Description

This is a selection of Lieder by Swiss composers – to give a superficial description of the songs recorded for this album. Making such a selection involves making decisions. What is important? What is essential? Are the chosen songs gems or rarities? Do they exemplify the work of the respective composers?
A selection can be both a winnowing-out and a compilation. Each of these actions applies to the Lieder presented here. The recordings (re)present debut or early works, and also rarely heard works by established composers. This album centres on the “Seven Winter Songs” op. 1 by Hans Schaeuble (1906-1988). The words and music of the Lieder have now appeared in print, and this premiere recording was made in consequence. The music edition of the Sieben Winterlieder Op. 1 is based on a calligraphic manuscript in the Zurich Central Library, which is clearly a fair copy illustrated by Schaeuble’s brother Erich.

The singer Luca Bernard is a study prize winner of Migros Kulturprozent. From the 2019/20 season he became a member of the International Opera Studio at Zurich Opera House.

At the Zurich University of the Arts, pianist Hans Adolfsen has a Lied class together with pianist and composer Daniel Fueter, whose encounters with music and literature have provided him with a new source of inspiration.

Description

Then as now, the music of „Les Six“ is a fascinating kaleidoscope of musical ideas and friendship; an idiosyncratic preciousness full of musical avant-garde, everyday melancholy, profound curiosities, virtuosity and passion that is in need of rediscovery.

The collaborative work „L’Album des Six“ was created in 1920, to which each of the six composers Georges Auric, Louis Durey, Arthur Honegger, Darius Milhaud, Francis Poulenc and Germaine Tailleferre contributed a piece. Arranged alphabetically, the album summarises the composers through their connection with various aesthetic ideas, different personalities and lifelong friendship. 100 years later, the „L’Album des Six“ is expanded with corresponding song cycles from their oeuvres: In addition to well-known compositions by Francis Poulenc and Darius Milhaud, the first releases of the song cycles by Georges Auric (1940) and Louis Durey (1920) enrich the CD in a special way.

Description

THE TWIOLINS are the siblings Marie-Luise and Christoph Dingler, specialists in the violin duo genre. Having grown up in a musical environment, they have achieved the highest degree of interplay and a unique sound identity through their shared curriculum vitae and constant playing together.

Why Vivaldi and Piazzolla? Or to put it another way: why, after more than ten years of searching and working on new compositions, does the duo now devote itself to two deceased composers who could hardly be more opposite? Adapting Kremer’s project Eight Seasons and transforming it into a typical “Twiolins project” is unusual for the TWIOLINS, but it was almost dreamwalkingly simple. Thus it was clear to the duo that the Eight Seasons had to evolve, through their own interpretation, transformation and growth. In short: an evolution was necessary.

Nevertheless, it was an adventure to play the Four Seasons from Vivaldi on two violins arrange. Years of playing together gave them enough experience to be able to present Vivaldi’s masterpiece appropriately – without reducing the content of the work. Both Vivaldi and Piazzolla have undergone a transformation and show us new aspects in this chamber music version that have never been heard before in these great works of world literature …

Description

Der Struwwelpeter – a (hairy) radio play, played and sung by a quartet of the Basel Chamber Orchestra

„Look, here it is. Fie! The mophead…“ The eight famous stories from the timeless children’s book in witty, theatrical settings and arrangements by Konstantin Timokhine as an audio CD: Directed by Salomé Im Hof, the musicians Ewa Miribung (violin, banjo), Georg Dettweiler (cello), Konstantin Timokhine (horn) and Jan Wollmann (trumpet) from the Basel Chamber Orchestra play, sing and tell the popular stories in a colourful, rhythmic and groovy, profound and poetic way: for young and old, recommended from 5 years on. The four stories „Der böse Friedrich“, „Paulinchen mit dem Feuerzeug“, „Zappel-Philipp“ and „Hans-Guck-in-die-Luft“ were arranged for the CD and extended with the four other stories „von den schwarzen Buben“, „Daumenlutscher“, „Suppen-Kaspar“ and „Zappel-Philipp“. The original chronological order of the original book has been retained, so it is easy to read along and follow the pictures. Between the episodes, questions are asked in short intermezzi – spoken by and for children. Stimulating to form one’s own thoughts and valuable as a mediating aspect of the audio CD!

Description

A couple of years ago we were invited to play a Hollywood themed programme in Grafenegg/Austria. We quickly arranged a handful of well-known film music pieces and performed them along with some original compositions for two guitars by M. C. Tedesco, a prolific film music composer in the forties and fifties.

We couldn’t omit the king of gypsy jazz: Django Reinhardt, whose compositions often enliven Hollywood films. The concert was a huge success and we received an unusually high number of requests for a film music themed record.

From this, our Hollywood and Swing CD was borne. Some of our choices of repertoire might seem over ambitious, especially when reducing the whole orchestral sound to two guitars. We hope nevertheless, that our interpretation of these iconic Hollywood film scores like “The Deer Hunter” or the beautiful tunes from the „West Side Story“ will provide the listener with as much pleasure as we had playing them.

Zoltan & Peter Katona