Gidon Kremer has made a virtue of bringing lesser-known composers to the international stage, the Czech Victor Kalabis (1923 - 2006) being an excellent case in point. Like many artists trying to establish their careers in the late 1930s, his calling was jeopardised by the Nazi occupation, and subsequently by the Soviet authorities—both he and his wife, the renowned harpsichordist, Zuzana Růžičková, refused to join the Communist Party.
These performances are generally lean in terms of timbre, allowing Kalabis’s intricate linear strands to come through clearly. The Diptych and Duettina (both composed in 1987) are contrapuntally closely worked and feature uncompromisingly taut textures set within a broadly tonal canvas. Motivic devices such as canon and imitation are all deployed, the style owing much to Bartók and perhaps Lutosławski too. The dialogues are natural and vividly etched, with supremely controlled and intelligent string playing from Kremer and Ceple in the Duettina.
The earlier Chamber music for strings from 1963 is arguably more romantic in outlook, with softer hues in the Andantino—an elegiac sentiment influenced by the death of the composer’s father. The ensuing Allegro is fiercely contrapuntal and linear, framed by the more reflective Adagio.
Kalabis’s indubitable compositional skill and fine command of structure demonstrate his worth, qualities that are highlighted in these perceptive performances.