Unsung Composers

The Music => Recordings & Broadcasts => Topic started by: Alan Howe on Thursday 10 April 2014, 11:21

Title: Kalliwoda String Quartets
Post by: Alan Howe on Thursday 10 April 2014, 11:21
....Op.44, 1-3 on the La Dolce Volta label:
http://www.mdt.co.uk/kalliwoda-string-quartets-1-3-op-talich-quartet-la-dolce-volta.html
(http://www.mdt.co.uk/kalliwoda-string-quartets-1-3-op-talich-quartet-la-dolce-volta.html)
Title: Re: Kalliwoda String Quartets
Post by: eschiss1 on Thursday 10 April 2014, 11:30
Are we talking Johann Wenzel Kalliwoda or his son ? JW Kalliwoda's Op.44 is his Overture No.2 in F major for orchestra, so this is ver' odd news to me.

(If I had to make a guess, I think MDT got something wrong, and that it's a new- or reissued and unknown-to-me, archival, etc. etc.- recording of the 3 quartets Opp.61-62 and Op.90, which have been previously recorded though not at all often, maybe only once.)
Title: Re: Kalliwoda String Quartets
Post by: petershott@btinternet.com on Thursday 10 April 2014, 13:19
Yes, MDT have clearly "got something wrong" - but unintentionally so. The mistake is that of the record company, and MDT have perpetuated it.

The 3 St Qts here are:
No. 1 in E minor, Op. 61 (1835)
No. 2 in A major, Op. 62 (1835)
No. 3 in G major, Op. 90 (1838)

The Talich recording of them was originally on a Calliope disc (issued ca. 2005), and the label La Dolce Volta is one which reissues now unobtainable Calliope discs.

I can't guess where the record label's Op. 44 has come from - as Eric points out Op 44 is Kalliwoda's F major Overture.

The names are confusing. I hope I'm right in what I've always assumed - namely that Jan Krititl Vaclav Kalivoda is the Czech name of the present composer (born in Prague and 1801-1866), and that Johann Wenzel Kalliwoda is the Germanised version of the name. Yes?

The son is Wilhelm Kalliwoda (1827-1893), a far more minor composer (compared to his father's near 300 compositions) who also established a reputation as a conductor.

As for Pater, these quartets are pretty good (as are the Talich's performances of them - I have the original Calliope disc). Sadly they are the only st qts Kalliwoda composed (other than some later single movements scored for st qt). He never completed any further (whole) quartets, and I've always thought the quality of his works decreased as the quantity increased (but that's just my prejudice).
Title: Re: Kalliwoda String Quartets
Post by: Alan Howe on Thursday 10 April 2014, 15:52
Amazon.co.uk also perpetuate the Op.44 numbering.
Title: Re: Kalliwoda String Quartets
Post by: petershott@btinternet.com on Friday 11 April 2014, 18:11
Ha, solved it! The same record company are also releasing the Talich Qt recording of the set of Mendelssohn's st qts Op. 44 nos 1-3.

Methinks someone has confused one disc with the other.
Title: Re: Kalliwoda String Quartets
Post by: Alan Howe on Friday 11 April 2014, 19:06
Doh, that must be it. Kalliwoda and Mendelssohn - the names sound so similar, don't they? So easy to confuse them. If you're a marketing ignoramus, that is...
Title: Re: Kalliwoda String Quartets
Post by: eschiss1 on Sunday 20 April 2014, 01:53
Ah, and here I could have hoped that the Talich had participated in a recording of Friedrich Kiel and Wilhelm Hill's Op.44 piano quartets :) (or maybe added Stanford's first quartet Op.44 on somewhere...)
Title: Re: Kalliwoda String Quartets
Post by: Alan Howe on Saturday 28 June 2014, 16:58
This is a terrific CD, by the way. Terrific music, that is, terrifically played.
Title: Re: Kalliwoda String Quartets
Post by: eschiss1 on Saturday 28 June 2014, 18:25
Hoping to hear it- I knew of the recording in its earlier guise, and have at least seen the parts over at IMSLP but haven't yet (heard it) (I think!). Thank you.