Ivo Kahanek

Ivo Kahanek – Kalabis: The Complete Piano Works (2019) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · March 18, 2023 · Comments off

The very first complete recording of Viktor Kalabis’s piano works, as well as the previous album of his three sonatas, have come to fruition upon the initiative and owing to the relentless enthusiasm of the world-renowned harpsichordist Zuzana Růžičková, the composer’s wife and a keen promoter of his oeuvre. Of major importance was the selection of the pianist – one possessing superlative technical skills and having a profound understanding of the structure of Kalabis’s music. As Ivo Kahánek put it: “Kalabis was one of the composers who don’t restrict their ideas by the traditional laws of the piano technique, hence his music is now and then extremely difficult to perform.” Even though Kalabis drew inspiration from the music of other 20th-century masters, he soon arrived at his own, singular and unique musical idiom, which is already palpable in his early opuses. The album maps more than half a century of Kalabis’s work, from the post-war Sonata No. 1 to the masterful miniatures dating from the very end of the millennium. Following the critically acclaimed recordings of his symphonic and concert pieces (Choc de Classica, Gramophone Editor’s Choice), and of the three sonatas, the present album opens yet another window into Viktor Kalabis’s fascinating musical world.

The first complete album of Viktor Kalabis’s piano works. A world unto itself.

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Ivo Kahánek – Dvořák: The Complete Piano Works (2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · March 18, 2023 · Comments off

Dvor’ak’s works for solo piano are in the main an unexplored landscape even for many a pianist and musicologist. This segment of his music lacks Chopin’s sway and finely nuanced emotionality, nor does it possess Liszt’s osten-tatious virtuosity. Just as he did in his entire oeuvre, in his piano works too Anton’in Dvor’ak eschewed flashiness, focusing instead on tender intimate lyricism, teeming with ideas, and shaping even his miniatures with the sensibility of a genius. Such music is certainly worthy of a new complete album. Upon the initiative of Supraphon and the Classical Music Academy, the challenging task was undertaken by Ivo Kah’anek, an artist whose recording of Dvor’ak’s Piano Concerto made with the Bamberger Symphoniker conducted by Jakub Hrusa has deservedly gained critical acclaim. The present set encompasses larger cycles and occasional pieces, as well as several little-known works, recorded for the very first time. The album of Dvor’ak’ piano works provides yet another precious insight into the abundant world of the composer’s soul.

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