Search - Vycpalek, Kalliwoda Martinu, Duo Patterson, Ronald Patterson :: Czech Mates

Duo Patterson was formed in 1980 in the Principality of Monaco with the encouragement of Princess Grace of Monaco. The unique violin and viola duo has performed in recital and with orchestras throughout Europe and the United States and appeared frequently on American and European television. They received the first Princess Grace Foundation U.S.A. Special Award in 1984 in New York and have recorded for VOX, CRI and Ante Aeternum Records. Ronald Patterson, violinist, was a student of Jascha Heifetz, and Roxanna Patterson, violist, studied with Karen Tuttle and Wayne Crouse. Bohuslav Martinu (1890-1959) was born in a room at the top of a church tower in the Bohemian town of Policka. The first twelve years of his life left a sense of space and pure forms of nature that found expressive sounds in his music. These two duos reflect his love of Czech and Moravian folk songs and incorporate his ideas of rhythmic drive, tonal fantasy, jazz, neo-classicism and deep emotional feelings of his homeland. Ladislav Vycpalek (1882-1968) has a personal style characterized by counterpoint, Moravian folk melodies, dissonance and polyphonic development. He was isolated from the main current of Czech music of the time, and was denounced in 1950 for 'subjective and mystical" tendencies. Towards the end of his life he was recognized as the most important living Czech composer. Johann Wenzel Kalliwoda (1801-1866) was born in Prague, graduated from the Prague Conservatory with the highest honors in theory and composition, worked as a violinist in the Prague Theater Orchestra and in 1822 became the court composer and violinist for Prince Carl Egon II in Donaueschingen, Germany. His two duos for violin and viola are remarkable for their complex double stop writing which gives his country melodies a unique chordal fullness.