# Kalliwoda - String Quartet 1 op.61 (SQ review)



## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

Talentrd violinist, Johann Kalliwoda, attended the Prague Conservatory from 1811-15 and after graduation he joined the Prague Theatre Orchestra as first violin. Later he left to become an journeyman soloist around Europe. For the last 40 years of his life he became Kapellmeister in Donaueschingen, Germany, where he wrote over 450 scores (240+ were published with opus numbers) . Apart from writing 2 operas; 10 masses; 7 symphonies and lots of overtures he also wrote chamber music including 3 string quartets. Schumann, was a big admirer and dedicated his Six Intermezzi for piano to him. He was a well known and admired composer, in his time, even if now he's virtually unknown (see also Raff). 
Kalliwoda's 1st String Quartet, first published in 1835, was dedicated to his friend Joseph Graff. The opening movement, Allegro moderato, with its fine Mendelssohnian theme revolves around a pleasant violin theme that is developed well. After this interesting beginning, the 2nd movement, Adagio, has a gentle love theme at its heart (very much in the style of Mendelssohn and his song without words) and is vaguely reminiscent of the slow movement of Mozart's 'Dissonance' Quartet. The real meat in the bone, for me, comes with the 3rd movement, Allegro. Regular readers to my blogs know there's one thing I love on SQ recordings and that's pizzicato. The good news, if you love pizzicato too, is that the 3rd movement is played almost entirely in pizzicato (save from a little mid-section). The pizzicato runs and stops are an absolute delight and this fun movement is as good as you can get if you like the 'plucking' of a quartet. This was a remarkably brave decision for Kalliwoda to make and he must be one of the first composers to incorporate a full pizzicato movement but perhaps he was inspired by Mendelssohn's use ofpizzicato in his op.12 quartet. Who knows? Whatever the case its brilliant. Things are brought to an excellent head with the finale, Vivace, with its unbridled vitality and passion. There's an interesting undercurrent of disquiet and turmoil to this fizzing movement with its lovely, folk stylings and this excellent vivace finishes the quartet in fine style. This really is an excellent quartet from a hugely underrated composer and it's a travesty that it isn't in the standard repertoire. 
There's only one recording of this wonderful quartet and that's by the *Talich Quartet *who recorded all 3 Kalliwoda quartets (a disc all SQ fanatics should own). The Talich play these fine quartets with a beautiful tone and great precision and the way the Talich handle the folk and dance rhythms is a huge positive, for me. As a vehicle for Jan Talich's impressive violin skills this quartet is ideal. The Calliope recording, for once, isn't as dry as a camel's chuff and the ensemble are captured perfectly, in very decent sound. Hugely recommended.


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