{"title":"Heinz Holliger","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHeinz Holliger\u003c\/strong\u003e (b. 1939) - Swiss oboist, composer, and conductor.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"holliger-works-for-2-oboes-cor-anglais","title":"Beethoven, Ganz, Wranitzky: Works for 2 Oboes \u0026 Cor Anglais \/ Holliger, Bischoff, Schüpbach","description":"\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eEven at the age of 82, the Swiss oboist, composer and conductor Heinz Holliger is still bursting with verve, curiosity and the desire to make music. His latest album is called \"Les Roseaux Chantants\" (\"The Singing Reed Flutes\"), an allusion to the double reed with which the notes on the oboe and English horn are made to sound. Works were chosen that were composed for the unusual combination of two oboes plus English horn. A tonally delightful sound and musical experience, as the works by Beethoven, Wranitzky, the Swiss composer Rudolph Ganz and, last but not least, Heinz Holliger himself, impressively demonstrate.\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"Prospero Classical","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012439560426,"sku":"4270002928312","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4075290-2819351.jpg?v=1778241677"},{"product_id":"schoenberg-kammersymphonie-op-9-sechs-kleine-stucke-op-19-arr-holliger-webern-symphonie-op-21-funf-satze-op-5","title":"Schoenberg \u0026 Webern: Music for Chamber Orchestra \/ Holliger, Chamber Orchestra of Lausanne","description":"\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eIn February 2021, when public concerts had been cancelled for several months, the musicians of the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne were able to meet behind closed doors on the stage of the Opéra de Lausanne in order to record this disc under the direction of Heinz Holliger. An album released in 2013 presented an earlier recording collaboration between the Bernese conductor and the Lausanne-based ensemble with two works by Schoenberg (\u003cem\u003eVerklärte Nacht\u003c\/em\u003e and the Chamber Symphony No. 2) and an early piece by his pupil Anton Webern (\u003cem\u003eLangsamer Satz\u003c\/em\u003e). Nearly a decade later, the same performers are reunited and continue to highlight these two leading composers of the Second Viennese School.\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"Fuga Libera","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012444049642,"sku":"5400439007949","price":20.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4092665-2841673.jpg?v=1778248406"},{"product_id":"lifelines","title":"Lifelines","description":"Heinz Holliger, an exceptional oboist, pianist, and composer, did not compose anything for piano for almost 40 years after his 1961 work \"Elis - Three Nocturnes\". A whole series of musical tributes and birthday greetings composed since the beginning of the 21st century was then published in 2019 under the Schumannesque title \"Albumblatter\" (Album Leaves) and has now been recorded in it's entirety for the first time by Kirill Zvegintsov. These are typically Holligerian, highly intricate showpieces with many references, which are expertly explained in the album essay.   These works are combined with early and late piano works by the Swiss composer and pianist Jurg Wyttenbach, who died in 2021 and had a close musical relationship with Holliger. In the last years of his life, this expert in New Music took on the daring task of completing Beethoven's sketches for an alternative third movement for his Piano Sonata Op. 109 - an undertaking that only such a skilled pianist and composer could attempt. In the last days of his life, Wyttenbach was able to listen to the premiere of this reconstruction by Zvegintsov. The Ukrainian pianist combines and contrasts this experiment with the original modern works in a very stimulating way.","brand":"Wergo","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012583379178,"sku":"4010228741322","price":20.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4469978-3473513.jpg?v=1778191750"},{"product_id":"schoeck-elegie-op-36","title":"Schoeck: Elegie, Op. 36 \/ Gerhaher, Holliger, Basel Chamber Orchestra","description":"\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA \u003cem\u003eNew Yorker\u003c\/em\u003e Notable Recording of 2022!\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eOn his new album \u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eElegie\u003c\/em\u003e, Sony Classical artist and pre-eminent lieder singer Christian Gerhaher returns to the beguiling beauty and dark melancholy of late-Romantic Swiss composer Othmar Schoeck.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eSchoeck’s song-cycle \u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eElegie\u003c\/em\u003e was compared to music ‘from another world’ when it was first performed in 1923 and remains one of the unappreciated wonders of the lieder repertoire. Its 24 songs, accompanied by an ensemble of 15 instrumentalists, trace a narrative of aching farewells, lost love, and fading beauty.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eChristian Gerhaher is in demand the world over for his instantly recognizable baritone voice, which combines lightness and lyricism with unparalleled depth of meaning. It is the perfect vessel for Austro-German lieder and has found a resonant home in Schoeck’s music. Following in the footsteps of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Gerhaher has already proved himself a renowned exponent of Schoeck’s \u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eNotturno\u003c\/em\u003e for baritone and string quartet.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eOn this new recording of \u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eElegie\u003c\/em\u003e, Gerhaher’s characteristic plangent delivery and intimacy with the microphone reveal the glowing beauty of these curious and captivating songs, which set handpicked poems by Eichendorff and Lenau. The cycle presents a series of atmospheric portraits linked by a first person half-narrative that slips and slides between emotional states, much of it stalked by a deep sense of loneliness.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eSchoeck’s dark, introspective score has prompted intrigue among musicologists and historians. Some speculate that \u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eElegie\u003c\/em\u003e was a reaction to the composer’s intense but ultimately unhappy relationship with the pianist Mary de Senger, and his coming to terms with its anguished end (\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eElegie\u003c\/em\u003e is dedicated to the pianist). Others have interpreted the work as Schoeck’s farewell to Romanticism, as the musical avant-garde moved to a place he no longer understood.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eSchoeck’s music did react to contemporary trends. \u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eElegie\u003c\/em\u003e’s etched, precise and luminous ensemble of 15 players glances in the direction of Schoenberg’s \u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003ePierrot Lunaire\u003c\/em\u003e and Stravinsky’s \u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eHistoire du Soldat\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eOn this recording, Gerhaher is joined by the boutique ensemble that is the Basel Chamber Orchestra and conductor Heinz Holliger.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eREVIEWS\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eChristian Gerhaher, perhaps [Dietrich] Fischer-Dieskau’s most formidable modern successor, has made an even stronger case in recordings of “\u003c\/span\u003eNotturno\u003cspan\u003e” and “Elegie,” two Schoeck cycles for voice and ensemble. The Sony Classical label released Gerhaher’s account of “\u003c\/span\u003eElegie\u003cspan\u003e” earlier this year, and I have been listening to it obsessively, a little more mystified and mesmerized each time.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGerhaher, born to sing such music, applies burnished tone, precise diction, and a hint of a cabaret artist’s arched eyebrows. The ensemble weaves dark magic around him...Heinz Holliger, who conducts the Basel Chamber Orchestra on the Sony recording, chooses to augment the string section, which only enriches the effect. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e--\u003cem\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/em\u003e (Alex Ross)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eIn a new recording with the Basel Chamber Orchestra and the conductor Heinz Holliger, Christian Gerhaher, a Schoeck champion, plies his sumptuous baritone in declamatory lines and arching phrases, and reaches effortlessly for limpid high notes. His voice recedes hauntingly into rests without cheating the full values of the notes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\"\u003eTransience dominates: A string or a woodwind instrument, sometimes doubling the vocal line, sighs and dissipates against a stark orchestral landscape. Many songs hover around the two-minute mark, expiring quickly like lilacs plunked in a vase — fragrant, blooming, short-lived. Gerhaher and the players deliver the listener from these tiny deaths in the final, and longest, song, “Der Einsame,” sustaining its delicately spun lines in pillowy A-flat major and making peace with loneliness.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\"\u003e--The New York \u003cem\u003eTimes\u003c\/em\u003e (Oussama Zahr)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"gtx-trans\" style=\"position: absolute; left: -7px; top: -20px;\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"gtx-trans-icon\"\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Sony Masterworks","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012678766826,"sku":"194399633021","price":11.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4075310-2826933.jpg?v=1778241334"},{"product_id":"the-music-of-ursula-mamlok-vol-3-111145","title":"The Music Of Ursula Mamlok, Vol. 3","description":"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan class=\"COMPOSER12\"\u003eMAMLOK\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12b\"\u003e 5 Capriccios\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e3,6. \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12bi\"\u003eStray Birds.\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e1,2,11\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12bi\"\u003e Fantasy-Variations.\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e12\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12bi\"\u003e Panta Rhei.\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e7,9,10\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12b\"\u003e 5 Bagatelles.\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e4,8,10\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12b\"\u003e String Quartet No. 2\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e13. \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12bi\"\u003eConfluences.\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e4,7,8,10\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12bi\"\u003e Kontraste\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e3,5 \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"BULLET12\"\u003e • \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e1\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003ePhyllis Bryn-Julson (sop); \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e2\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003eHarvey Sollberger (fl); \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e3\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003eHeinz Holliger (ob); \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e4\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003eHelge Harding (cl); \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e5\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003eUrusla Holliger (hp); \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e6\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003eAnton Kernjak, \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e7\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003eHeather O’Donnell (pn); \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e8\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003eKirsten Harms, \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e9\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003eSusanne Zapf (vn); \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e10\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003eCosima Gerhardt, \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e11\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003eFred Sherry, \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e12\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003eJakob Spahn (vc); \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e13\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003eSonar Qrt \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"BULLET12\"\u003e • \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003e BRIDGE 9360 (72:45 \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003eText and Translation) \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan\u003eThis is the third disc from Bridge devoted to the music of Ursula Mamlok; I reviewed the second in \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eFanfare\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e 34:6. Like its predecessor, it offers an attractive and varied conspectus of the music of this impressive composer. Again the works cover a wide span of time, here from \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eStray Birds\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e (1963, written when the composer was 40) to \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eKontraste\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e (2010). It is gratifying to hear no falling-off of quality; indeed, the consistently high level of inspiration and technique is a hallmark of this disc (if I may be so presumptuous). Also again, we have many multimovement works, here totalling 33 tracks. Most of the movements are short (less than two minutes) and this concision can be hard to take in at first. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan\u003eIt is interesting that seven of the eight works here contain one movement that is far longer than any of the others in the work. In the case of the Five Capriccios for oboe and piano (1968) that open the disc, the final movement, even though it is barely four minutes, is still longer than the other four combined. Curiously, there is no sense in which the structure of any of the works on this disc feels unbalanced, nor does one feel that the shorter movements are breathless, or cut short. Mamlok judges the structures perfectly. In the first of the capriccios, one may think the trick is going to be a limited amount of thematic material in each movement, but the second and fourth capriccios are impassioned and intense with diving and swooping melodic lines. All four create powerful little statements (really, with Mamlok’s music every note has an active, individual purpose) that are then elegantly and coolly meditated upon in the relatively extended finale. In this work each movement is merely given a metronome marking; in later works Mamlok was given to somewhat poetic names for these longer movements. They are typically marked “Still, with utmost simplicity,” “Still, as if suspended,” though there are also a \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eLarghetto\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e, a \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eMolto tranquillo\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e, and so on. It is as if the brisk movements collect the necessary ingredients to enable the slow movement, usually at or toward the end of the work, to happen. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan\u003eThe Five Bagatelles for clarinet, violin, and cello (1988) shows Mamlok’s style becoming somewhat more diatonic. At the same time, every note seems carefully chosen and weighed; the music is written with care and precision, so that even as simple an idea as the insistent oscillating minor third that runs through and characterizes the second movement appears fresh yet inevitable. The odd-numbered pieces are especially good at capturing gaiety and humor while the long penultimate bagatelle, poignant and drawn out, is a satisfying contrast. In the Second String Quartet, from 1998, one can hear Mamlok’s style has subtly shifted again. If in the earlier works discussed the instruments were sharply characterized individuals, always playing against each other—against in the sense of differentiated from, not in an antagonistic way—in the quartet there is, in addition, more concerted music (in the first movement, for example) and even (in the second) momentary deference of an instrument to the others by adopting an accompanying role (I’m thinking of the slow pizzicatos). And, in the third and last movement, real drama and tension, with some sharp shifts of tempo and mood, all in an event-packed four minutes. I think “concision” is probably an unhelpful word for a lot of Mamlok’s music; “compression” would be better. And if I pass over the remaining works on the disc, it is only through lack of space. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan\u003eThe string quartet receives a fine, committed performance from the Sonar Quartet, three of whose members—Kirsten Harms, Susanne Zapf, and Cosima Gerhardt—play in three other works on the discs. Apart from the two Holliger pieces and \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eStray Birds\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e, the recordings here are a coproduction with German Radio Köln, and they are as fine and meticulous as are the performances and the music itself. The Holliger performances, which open and close the disc, and which are a little cooler in presentation, come from Zürich. \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eStray Birds\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e is a reissue of a recording previously on CRI. Bridge has done the composer proud. I found it a long disc to review—not, I hasten to add, because I disliked the music, but because it demands and deserves the same attention from the listener that the composer evidently gave it. One didn’t really want to listen to this CD all the way through, preferring to savor a couple of pieces at a time. And, it’s true, I found I needed time to get into the music. But it richly repays the effort and I certainly feel my somewhat neutral response to the earlier disc must be reviewed. This is clearly music that should be heard, which will appeal to the heart as much as the head, and which will enrich as well as entertain. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan style=\"font-weight:bold\"\u003eFANFARE: Jeremy Marchant \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Bridge Records","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46027988467946,"sku":"090404936029","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/1519934-2552726.jpg?v=1778381516"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/collections\/Heinzholliger.jpg?v=1778270794","url":"https:\/\/arkivmusic.com\/collections\/heinz-holliger.oembed","provider":"ArkivMusic","version":"1.0","type":"link"}