★★★★☆
When the great conductor Rafael Kubelik returned to Prague in 1990 after 42 years in exile, the first people he sought out were composers who had been muted by the Communist regime. Among them was Viktor Kalabis, an old friend who had kept under the radar, writing intimate chamber music, five symphonies and a piano concerto for his wife, the harpsichordist Zuzana Ruzickova. I remember the electrifying awe that descended when Kubelik entered a church in the Maly Strana to hear a lunchtime performance of music by the suppressed composers.
Kalabis is not easy to classify. His music owes something to Janacek and Martinu but without the insistent rhythms or the indelible melodies. He is a discreet expressionist whose work grows with repeated hearing, like a well-watered lawn. This album, played by Kremerata Baltica, contains two suites for string orchestra and a duettina played by Gidon Kremer and cellist Magdalena Ceple.
What strikes me is an ingrained caution, a refusal to buck the system with radical modernism. Ruzickova was forever getting into trouble with the authorities and her husband kept quiet in the background. The works for strings were written for an ensemble Ruzickova had founded with the Czech Philharmonic chief Vaclav Neumann at a time the Philharmonic were forbidden to employ her. There is so much going on here beneath the surface. I keep wanting to hear more.
Kremer and Ceple make an arresting pair. The rest of the Baltica are on top form. My one regret is that I never met Kalabis that day in the Maly Strana when he was finally free to speak out. His music demands to be heard.
