Digging composers out of the mothballs that no one wants, or should want, to hear seems to be a special characteristic beholden to MDG executives
Werner Dabringhaus and
Reimund Grimm. However, occasionally an emerald pops up out of those mothballs, and the orchestral work of Donaueschingen-based early Romantic composer
Johann Wenzel Kalliwoda well rewards MDG's patience and persistence in this respect. The main event on Kalliwoda: Orchestral Works is his unusual Symphony No. 3 in D minor, Op. 32. Premiered in 1830, it has a superficial resemblance to the kinds of symphonies that
Franz Berwald would compose a decade later, except that the string section is a little busier in a way reminiscent of
Mozart's last few symphonies. This symphony also evokes the specter of the recently departed
Schubert at times, but ultimately
Kalliwoda bears it out on his own terms and it takes its own place in the firmament of early Romantic symphonies. It's a great piece, and MDG's excellent recording, in tandem with
Johannes Moesus and the
Hamburger Symphoniker's straightforward, no-nonsense reading, effectively makes the case that
Kalliwoda's Symphony No. 3 in D minor, Op. 32, is a neglected masterwork. Who would've have thought that we hadn't run out of first-class symphonies in this period?