Youth. Overture for Large Orchestra, Op. 7


  • Recorded: 16th January 1984
  • Record Place: Ostrava House of Culture
  • First Release: 2024
  • (P) 2024 Český rozhlas
  • Genre: Orchestral

Artists

  • music by: Viktor Kalabis
  • conductor: Viktor Kalabis
  • musical group: Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava

Album

Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava, Viktor Kalabis

Viktor Kalabis / Composer & Conductor

Digital services

Catalogue Number: SU 4334-2
Published: 22nd March 2024
Genre: Orchestral
Format: 1 CD
Viktor Kalabis (1923–2006) – Youth. Overture for Large Orchestra, Op. 7 (1950); Concerto for Chamber Orchestra, “Hommage à Stravinsky”, Op. 3 (1948); Concerto for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 8 (1951/1956)

Miroslav Petráš – cello, Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava, Janáček Chamber Orchestra, conductor Viktor Kalabis

The centenary of the birth of Viktor Kalabis (1923-2006), a major 20th-century Czech composer, is worthy of attention. The previous Supraphon album, Symphonies & Concertos (SU 4109-2), mapping his mature and late works, met with critical acclaim (Gramophone Choice / Reissue of the Month, Choc de Classica). Much of Kalabis’s early output, however, is yet to be discovered. The present recording, containing three pieces dating from between 1948 and 1951, attests to the young composer’s remarkable maturity. In the Concerto for Chamber Orchestra, Op. 3 (1948), Kalabis paid tribute to Igor Stravinsky, a great idol of his, with the concerto grosso form and instrumentation referring to Dumbarton Oaks. The impressive brief overture Youth, Op. 7 (1950), demonstrates the composer’s brilliant mastery of large symphony orchestra. The surprising dark colours in the work may reflect the difficult period of the Communist dictatorship’s ascent. The neo-folk Concerto for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 8 (1951), reveals Kalabis’s Dvořák, Bartók, Hindemith and late symphonic Martinů inspirations. Youthful dynamic energy and intimations of future weighty profundity characterise Kalabis’s early music. Three decades later, the composer recorded his early pieces, conducting the Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava. The present album thus affords the opportunity to listen to their authentic performance.

Viktor Kalabis’s early gems still awaiting discovery

Reviews

“Les influences dont Kalabis s'était peu à peu détaché à mesure qu'il mettait en place son style de maturité ne peuvent guère se dissimuler ici… Ni que la sombre expressivité, les élans impérieux ou la densité du discours qui caractériseront les oeuvres tardives du compositeur ne transparaissent pas dès cette époque. Une fois mentionnée la qualité du violoncelliste solo, c'est la direction acérée de Kalabis lui-même qui appose le sceau de l'authenticité à cet album original et utile.”
Classica, July 2024

Viktor Kalabis
1. Youth. Overture for Large Orchestra, Op. 7 13:38
Viktor Kalabis
Concerto for Chamber Orchestra, Op. 3 “Hommage à Stravinsky”
2. I. Allegro 05:32
3. II. Andante 06:24
4. III. Allegro II 03:29
Viktor Kalabis
Concerto for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 8
5. I. Allegro moderato 14:05
6. II. Largo 11:27
7. III. Allegro 12:00

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