Duets and Trio, Kalliwoda, Bach/David, Beethoven

Following along on the theme of catching up on my blog, I'm going to combine parts of two different sessions, so that I can talk about a couple of themes: smaller groups, and arrangements.

First, continuing my obsession with Kalliwoda, I got to play the first of his two violin-viola duets, the Op. 208, No. 1 in C major.   There's a blog post about these two duets here, and I have to say, I agree: wonderful pieces.  Kalliwoda has a gift for melody, I think, and his writing is technically gratifying for both instruments.  Maybe he does love double-stops a bit too much, but he writes them so cleverly that I forgive him.  And he does manage to get a full, rich sound out of only two instruments!

In that same session, we played about half of the Ferdinand David transcription for violin and viola of the Bach Two-Part Inventions.  You can hear three of them here.  I think they work remarkably well, particularly the famous F major No. 8.  I'm eager to play more of David's transcriptions.  And maybe even add his string quartet to my list of quartets by obscure composers to play (not that that list needs more entries!)

I suppose this is a good place to discuss my feelings about arrangements and transcriptions.  I'm in favor of them, as long as they're done with a real understanding of the instruments being transcribed for.   I don't like, for example, to play a string quartet with a flute taking over the first violin part.  But something like the Bach transcriptions by David, an expert violinist (he premiered the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto) can work really well.

On a separate occasion, waiting for a tardy cellist for a session of string quartets, I got to play another transcription, this time the first movement of Beethoven's Op. 87 Trio for Two Oboes and English Horn, in the Henle edition for two violins and viola, prepared by Egon Voss.  It's unclear whether the string version is Beethoven's or not, but he at least approved it.  And it's delightful: notwithstanding the high opus number, this is a very early work, and I have a particular fondness for Beethoven's earliest music.  Another example of a transcription working very well!  You can listen to the original version here, and the transcription here, and form your own opinion.