Kalabis: Duettina, Chamber Music & Diptych Gidon Kremer, Magdalena Ceple, Kremerata Baltica & Fuad Ibrahimov

• Viktor Kalabis (1923 - 2006): Duettina for Violin & Cello, Op. 67:
• 1 Kalabis: Duettina for Violin & Cello, Op. 67: I. Introduzione 03:24
• 2 Kalabis: Duettina for Violin & Cello, Op. 67: II. Danzetta 02:36
• 3 Kalabis: Duettina for Violin & Cello, Op. 67: III. Serenata 03:03
• 4 Kalabis: Duettina for Violin & Cello, Op. 67: IV. Finale 03:11
• Chamber Music for Strings, Op. 21:
• 5 Kalabis: Chamber Music for Strings, Op. 21: I. Andantino 08:04
• 6 Kalabis: Chamber Music for Strings, Op. 21: II. Allegro vivo 09:53
• 7 Kalabis: Chamber Music for Strings, Op. 21: III. Adagio, molto quieto 05:16
• Diptych for Strings, Op. 66:
• 8 Kalabis: Diptych for Strings, Op. 66: I. Andante 07:08
• 9 Kalabis: Diptych for Strings, Op. 66: II. Allegro vivo 10:46
• Total Runtime 53:21

Info for Kalabis: Duettina, Chamber Music & Diptych

Gidon Kremer’s commitment to the music of our own time and the exploration of some of the lesser-known byways of the past is justly famous. Here, alongside his Kremerata Baltica colleagues, he turns his attention to three substantial works for strings by the twentieth-century Czech composer Viktor Kalabis. This is an album guaranteed to win new friends for the music.

The art of composition for Czech composer Viktor Kalabis (1923-2006) was about teasing out the technique he needed to express a piece through the process of writing that piece. Kalabis was prolific, writing five symphonies and seven string quartets alongside many concerti and chamber works, and the joy of discovering Kalabis’s music is that of eavesdropping on Kalabis himself discovering the character, as well as the pacing and inner drama, of the music he was imagining inside his head. A composer who very obviously listened to a wide variety of other music, he adored Martinů—but also Alban Berg and Béla Bartók. His music functions tonally, but he concocted a method of his own for weaving twelve-tone thinking through a score, usually with the intention of intensifying harmonic light and shade, or to walk the music along new and more unstable pathways. Whatever worked in terms of moving his musical argument forwards mattered more to him than orientating himself around any prevailing compositional style or way-of-doing.

Whichever technical procedures he adopted, the essence of Kalabis’s music remained the same and retained its instantly recognizable sound. Both Kalabis and his wife, the pioneering Zuzana Růžičková, who was the first harpsichordist to record the complete keyboard works of Bach, refused to join the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, which ruled the country from 1948 to the end of 1989. As a result, Kalabis faced harassment, travel bans and infrequent public performances of his music; oppression was an important influence on much of his work. This political influence, reflected in some of Kalabis’s major works, was all the greater given that Viktor had suffered under the Nazi occupation of his country, having been forced into factory labour, and by Zuzana’s terrifying experiences as a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps and in ‘slave labour’. ...

Gidon Kremer, violin
Magdalena Ceple, cello
Kremerata Baltica
Fuad Ibrahimov, conductor

Gidon Kremer
Driven by his strikingly uncompromising artistic philosophy, Gidon Kremer has established a worldwide reputation as one of his generation’s most original and compelling artists.

His repertoire encompasses both standard classical scores and music by leading 20th and 21st-century composers. He has championed the works of Russian and Eastern European composers and performed many important new compositions, several of which have been dedicated to him. His name is closely associated with composers such as Alfred Schnittke, Arvo Pärt, Giya Kancheli, Sofia Gubaidulina, Valentin Silvestrov, Luigi Nono, Edison Denisov, Aribert Reimann, Pēteris Vasks, John Adams, Victor Kissine, Michael Nyman, Philip Glass, Leonid Desyatnikov and Astor Piazzolla, whose works he performs in ways that respect tradition while being fully alive to their freshness and originality.

Gidon Kremer has recorded over 120 albums, many of which have received prestigious international awards. His long list of honours and awards includes the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize, the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Triumph Prize in Moscow, the Unesco Prize and the Una vita nella musica – Artur Rubinstein Prize. In 2016 Gidon Kremer received the Praemium Imperiale, widely considered to be the Nobel Prize of arts.

In 1997 Gidon Kremer founded the chamber orchestra Kremerata Baltica to foster outstanding young musicians from the Baltic States. The ensemble tours extensively and has recorded almost 30 albums for the Nonesuch, Deutsche Grammophon and ECM labels. During the 2016/17 season Kremerata Baltica embarked on landmark tours to the Middle East, North America, Europe and Asia, marking the ensemble’s 20th anniversary.

Gidon Kremer’s commitment to the work of Mieczysław Weinberg in recent years has been particularly notable. In 2019, Deutsche Grammophon and Accentus Music released albums recorded with Gidon Kremer featuring Weinberg’s orchestral and chamber music.

Kremerata Baltica
Founded in 1997 by renowned violinist Gidon Kremer, the Grammy-Award winning chamber orchestra Kremerata Baltica is considered to be one of Europe’s most prominent international ensembles. Maestro Kremer intentionally selected young, enthusiastic musicians to stave off the dreaded “orchestritis” that afflicts many professional orchestral players. Essential to Kremerata Baltica’s artistic personality is its creative approach to programming, which often ranges beyond the mainstream and has given rise to world premieres of works by composers such as Arvo Pärt, Giya Kancheli, Pēteris Vasks, Leonid Desyatnikov and Alexander Raskatov.

Since its establishment Kremerata Baltica has played in more than 50 countries, performing in 600 cities and giving more than 1000 concerts worldwide. The orchestra’s wide-ranging and carefully chosen repertoire is also showcased in its numerous and much-praised recordings. Its album of works by Mieczysław Weinberg on ECM was nominated for a 2015 Grammy Award, its recording of Shostakovich’s piano concertos with Anna Vinnitskaya won the ECHO Klassik 2016. The recording of Weinberg’s symphonies No. 2 and No. 21, a joined adventure with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, received a Gramophone Award in 2020.

Due to the coronavirus restrictions in 2020 the orchestra wasn’t able to meet, rehearse, perform concerts and travel the world as usual. But the members, living in different countries, didn’t loose their desire to perform music and bring joy to people. The members of Kremerata Baltica who live in Lithuania started preparing programs and performing concerts there, and those who live in Latvia started performing in Latvia and Estonia. This gave the beginning to Kremerata Lithuanica and Kremerata Lettonica.

The Kremerata Baltica also serves as a medium to share Gidon Kremer’s rich artistic experience with the new generation and, at the same time, to promote and inspire the musical and cultural life of the Baltics.

Booklet for Kalabis: Duettina, Chamber Music & Diptych