Wilhelm Klingenbrunner (1782-mid-19th century), who worked full-time as a "landständischer Cassen-Beamter" at the Lower Austrian Landobereinnehmeramt, taught himself to sing, play the flute, clarinet, basset horn and guitar, as was customary in bourgeois circles at the time. However, playing music just to pass the time, as a "dilettante", was not enough for him. He was an excellent flautist, a member of the Society of Friends of Music, founded in 1812, and was active as a composer and - under the pseudonym Wilhelm Blum - also as a popular poet in the artistic circles of his time in Vienna. Almost 70 compositions of an unpretentious but pleasing character for flute or csakan have come down to us from him, as well as arrangements (e.g. of Mozart's Magic flute) and instrumental schools, such as a "flute school in two sections based on his own experience".

The works in this new edition are taken from the "New Theoretical and Practical Csakan School" published around 1815. This enjoyed great popularity within a short time, not least because of its instructions on recorder technique and performance practice. For example, the contemporary understanding of the "staccato repulsion sign" reads as follows: "passages marqued with punctures demand the special attack of each individual note", i.e. not a short note as is usual today, but a particularly emphasized note.

This selection, published in the "Diletto musicale" series, includes an informative preface and 25 short duets of increasing difficulty and varying character in the light-footed style of the Biedermeier period. Song-like movements and common dance forms such as minuet, waltz, alla polacca or angloise alternate.

Not only as a composer of "popular little works for the flute and the csakan" (as Gustav Schilling's Musical lexicon from 1840), Klingenbrunner seems to have shown talent. He always caught the fish for Beethoven and was therefore jokingly referred to by the latter as the fish warden. Once, however, he seems not to have caught any fresh fish, whereupon Beethoven wrote disgruntledly in his conversation book: "I have a spoiled stomach / Klingenbrunner / He is to the flute what Gelinek was to the piano / Nothing but variations on the usual beat."

Wilhelm Klingenbrunner: 25 small duets from op. 40, for two recorders in C (flutes / oboes / violins or other melody instruments), edited by Helmut Schaller and Nikolaj Tarasov, DM 1490, € 17.95, Doblinger, Vienna

The Fantasy pieces op. 43 by Niels Wilhelm Gade, a classic of the clarinet repertoire, has been newly published in the Henle Urtext series. Nicolai Pfeffer has produced the beautiful critical edition in the usual Henle quality. The first edition published by Kistner in Leipzig in 1864 was used as the main source for this edition, with the composer's autograph from 1864 and a new edition from 1878 published by Wilhelm Hansen, Copenhagen, as additional sources. Between the surviving autograph and the first edition, the composer made changes to the tempo of the first movement (from Larghetto to Larghetto con moto to Andantino con moto) and to the time signature of the second movement (4/4 instead of Alla breve). Otherwise, the changes mainly concern a few minor differences in articulation, phrasing and dynamics. The score of this new edition is clear and tidy. There are almost no editor's notes in the musical text itself, but there is a detailed critical commentary in the appendix.

In contrast to earlier editions, the Henle version does not include a solo part for violin. This was probably only included with the first edition due to the publishing practice of the time, and its authorship is unclear.

Niels Wilhelm Gade: Fantasiestücke op. 43 for clarinet and piano, Urtext edited by Nicolai Pfeffer, HN 1353, € 14.00, G. Henle, Munich 2017

The nice thing about good sheet music editions is that they don't burn up in the firmament as quickly as all the stars and starlets of the music scene. Whereas there the marketing literally screams for immediate attention (and sales figures), in the music trade they are so-called long sellers - i.e. products that people like to return to again and again. This is also the case with the Sorcerer's apprentice by Paul Dukas, which has been published by Edition Eulenburg in a larger format as a study score based on the sources and in sharp focus.

The work, written in 1896/97, is based on Goethe's ballad of the same name. However, it was not the many successful performances in the Old and New World that were decisive for the composition's afterlife, but Walt Disney's legendary animated film Fantasia (1940), in which the score was congenially realized. What can be unsuspectingly perceived here as precise Mickey Mousing is heard by the connoisseur as a quasi-pictorial realization of the original ballad, on which Hollywood's film images were only subsequently placed. A lesson in the convoluted paths of reception history. The new edition of the score (including Goethe's verses in English and French translation) is therefore to be welcomed. - It could be of educational benefit not only today, but also in the long term.

Paul Dukas: L'Apprenti Sorcier, edited by Jean-Paul C. Montagnier, study score, ETP 8081, € 24.50, Eulenburg (Schott), Mainz

The pedagogical skill of Kristin Thielemann, the author of this anthology, seems obvious when you look at the short trouvailles from the last five centuries of music history, which have been compiled with care and intelligence. From Tilman Susato to Handel and Verdi to smaller compositions of his own, Thielemann knows how to serve up music for young soloists that they can enjoy performing in rehearsals and competitions. Unknown (German dance by Johann Hermann Schein) is in harmonious balance with the classical evergreens (Joy, beautiful spark of the gods), the piano part is simply set and could also be used by interested piano students. To complete the offer, there is also an accompanying CD in this booklet for use at home. A really worthwhile alternative or supplement for lessons with young musicians, who in this way become carefully familiarized with the various musical styles.

My first concerto. 26 easy recital pieces from 5 centuries, edited by Kristin Thielemann, ED 22326, with CD, € 18.50, Schott, Mainz 2017

The eight Spanish dances by Pablo de Sarasate were first published by Simrock in 1878. Henle has brought them together in one booklet (HN 1370) and the most popular (and easiest), Romanza andaluza, republished as a single volume. The Urtext mainly follows the old edition and is supplemented with detailed notes and bar numbers. The violin part is printed twice: as the Urtext and with meaningful fingerings and bowings by Ingolf Turban. In addition, Sarasate's original fingerings have been entered in the violin part of the quavers score, which is of historical interest.

Pablo de Sarasate: Romanza andaluza, Spanish Dance No. 3 for violin and piano, Urtext edited by Peter Jost, HN 1346, € 7.50, G. Henle, Munich

The Syrian composer, oud player and arranger Hassan Taha does not live in our country entirely by choice. He settled in Bern as a refugee and turned his ears to the musical traditions of his new homeland - in search of an emotional bridge between his country of origin and Switzerland. According to the booklet, the name of his ensemble "Brunnen & Brücken" ("Fountains & Bridges") stands as a "metaphor for a lively and unifying communication between peoples, carried, as it were, by the primal element of water". The symbolism is not immediately obvious, but is not explained further. The CD Alrozana combines Bernese and Syrian songs, orchestrated with an ensemble of strings, alphorn, hammered dulcimer, Schwyzerörgeli and the Arabic lute oud. The singers are the Swiss Barbara Berger and the Syrian Najat Suleiman. Taha's arrangements are original, the tonal details are surprising and the ensemble of mainly Swiss folk music instruments often sounds exotically transformed. It seems obvious that an arranger was at work who did not fall into the trap of reproducing sound and form clichés many times over, which would probably prevent musicians in this country from breaking new ground. The ensemble is led by Hans Martin Stähli. As a music teacher at a Bernese grammar school and choirmaster, he has a wealth of experience in arranging folk songs as well as intercultural music projects.

The numbers, including the Syrian ones, all have a similar style, faster titles are missing, which makes the compilation somewhat monotonous. The icons of Bernese song are included: Simelibärg and It's not a special tribe, the first row of cows that - especially in the Freiburg version of the Ranz des vaches - is often referred to as the Blues of the Alps; Always i Truurea deeply sad song (in a major key, of all things!) and the elegiac Lueget vo Bärge and Tal. The original medieval Senfl song clearly falls outside the grid It's day before the forest. The original is characterized by a Lydian fourth, which also characterizes alphorn music. In contrast, the vocal line sung here seems romantically soft. The choice and function of this song, the only one performed in High German, therefore remain a mystery. Thanks to all the key characteristics, it might have been possible to find a few more interfaces to the differentiated scale world of Syrian-Arabic music.

The major of Always i Truure reveals the ambiguity of the Bernese folk song aesthetic, which conceals suffering and pain with simplicity and apparent harmlessness. In Hassan Taha's arrangements, on the other hand, the songs experience a sometimes seemingly harsh shortness of breath, which is emphasized by the recording aesthetics. The room seems bare and the instruments are closely miked. A softer sound would perhaps have softened this relentlessness somewhat. On the whole, however, the project testifies to an intensive and stimulating examination of the similarities and incompatibilities of Central European and Middle Eastern expressivity.

Secretly and sadly, we had already resigned ourselves to the idea that there would never be any more new music from the Young Gods. So it's all the more of a pleasant surprise that after eight years of radio silence, a new album is now available after all. The renaissance of one of the world's most important bands that ever grew up on Swiss soil provides a huge reason to celebrate. From the very first note - the debut maxi-single Envoyé released in 1986 - the Geneva trio went their own radical way. With the unusual combination of organic drums, electronica and vocals, they were pioneers in the attempt to combine rock with computers. Even David Bowie raved about them.

After the album Everybody Knows However, electronics engineer Al Comet had left the band after 22 years. Franz Treichler, the head and voice of the Young Gods, felt lost until he once again met Cesare Pizzi, the apparatus tinkerer who had once been part of the original trio. As part of the 2015 Cully Jazz Festival, Treichler, Pizzi and long-time drummer Bernard Trontin were given the opportunity to hold five days of public workshops. In the course of these informal "jam sessions", the desire for something new returned to all three participants.

From the seeds sown in Cully, the seven magnificent pieces of Data Mirage Tangram emerged. Similar to their kindred spirits Einstürzende Neubauten, the Young Gods' focus has shifted over the years from the generation and communication of energy to the creation of intricate webs of sound. Songs like Tear Up the Red Sky and All My Skin Standing show that the Young Gods still have plenty of rock steam in their bellies today. Above all, however, their confident handling of loud/quiet dynamics, Treichler's remarkably subtle vocals and Pizzi's clever use of noise ensure that Data Mirage Tangram reaches sonic depths that most other bands can only dream of.

The bar is set high right at the beginning. A voiceover recites Bertolt Brecht's poem to the black screen To those born after from the time of National Socialism, then a hundred heavily armed policemen march to the sounds of Bach's St. Matthew Passion through the picture. The drop height is appropriate: one cut and we are at Zurich Central, where we fought with the police in 1968 - left-wing nostalgia in black and white. For Christian Labhart, this was the initial political spark. His film is the typical autobiography of a Swiss leftist who read Marx and Adorno fifty years ago and, despite serious doubts, still clings to the utopia of the "right life in the wrong" today. But the circumstances are not like that. Baader-Meinhof dead end, Chernobyl, 9/11, financial crisis, robots, Syria, globalization, broken environment: a tear-off calendar of horror, a permanent dystopia, prepared with paradoxically beautiful images from the senseless world of things. If people appear as individuals, then it is the author himself and his surroundings, otherwise they are an anonymous mass - the curse of thinking in abstract categories of humanity. The unconditional yes to life that characterizes people's everyday lives in Africa, for example, is alien to this film essay, which is permeated by suffering in the world.

As a balm for the wounded soul, excerpts from the St. Matthew Passion with Philippe Herreweghe and his Collegium Vocale Gent. Here, people are engaged in a meaningful activity, a stark contrast to the images of a broken world. But Labhart seems to have made a misunderstanding with Bach. The secular recoding of the Passion turns the high pathos of religious suffering into profane self-pity, and instead of Christ, Ulrike Meinhof is mourned. "What remains?" is the final intertitle. Bach's final music provides the answer: "We sit down with tears." It could have been a little more.

Passion. Between revolt and resignation, a film by Christian Labhart. LookNow film distribution.
In theaters from April 18

The vote was preceded by several years of negotiations. The aim of the new directive is to curb the illegal use of creative works and ensure that their authors are remunerated. The provisions of Article 13 in particular are controversial. This is intended to oblige platforms to check whether the uploading of the respective content infringes copyright. The new EU directive will only be finalized once the European Council has given its approval - but this is considered a formality. The vote by the EU member states may take place on April 9.

According to Christian Höppner, Secretary General of the German Music Council, it is now a matter of "striving for a truly free Internet". In this respect, there is no difference with the critics of the reform. The market power of the internet giants remains unbroken, but the new directive forces them to fulfill their responsibility towards authors to a greater extent, Höppner continued. Fair remuneration for creators is a prerequisite for freedom and diversity on the internet.

The London-born conductor is thus returning to Vorarlberg, where he already directed two SOV productions last year. He succeeds Gérard Korsten, who stepped down in summer 2018 after 13 seasons. The decision was preceded by an intensive selection process in which the musicians of the Vorarlberg Symphony Orchestra were also involved.

McFall won the German Conducting Award in 2015 and was a finalist in the Nestlé and Salzburg Festival Young Conductors Award the year before. He has worked as a guest conductor with renowned orchestras such as the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin. He has assisted Bernhard Haitink with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Vienna Philharmonic.

The Vorarlberg Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1984 by a group of musicians and music enthusiasts from the region between the Arlberg and the Rhine. Its members are 120 professional musicians from Vorarlberg and the neighboring regions. Each season, it performs a cycle of six concerts in Bregenz and Feldkirch, plus a major opera production at the Vorarlberg State Theatre, concerts and scenic projects at the international Bregenz Festival in summer, at the Montforter Zwischentöne festival, other guest performances and CD productions.

In 2012, the Basel Government Council formulated the strategic goal of strengthening and raising the profile of Basel as a city of music. A large number of professional orchestras in particular contribute to Basel's musical wealth. However, an analysis commissioned by the Department of Culture revealed that the national and international appeal does not match the existing potential in terms of quality and diversity. An important reason for this in the case of the predominantly privately financed orchestras is that the musicians' fees are far below the salary level of the Basel Symphony Orchestra and the salary recommendations of the Swiss Musicians' Association, which has consequences for the artistic continuity of the orchestras.

Against this backdrop, in 2015 the Grand Council approved the new program and structural funding for orchestras in the Canton of Basel-Stadt and approved a total of CHF 5,576,000 for the years 2016 to 2019. On the recommendation of an independent jury of experts, in 2016 the Government Council awarded a total of CHF 3,960,000 from the program funding for the years 2017 to 2019 to the four orchestras Basel Sinfonietta, Ensemble Phoenix Basel, Kammerorchester Basel and La Cetra Barockorchester.

According to the four orchestras' performance mandate, the Basel concert series of the four orchestras, which complement each other programmatically, will be supported, whereby the musicians' fees should be based on the tariff recommendations of the Swiss Musicians' Association in order to improve the social security of cultural workers in accordance with the Culture Promotion Act. After gaining experience over one and a half seasons, the four orchestras can jointly confirm that the first steps in the right direction have been taken with program funding. However, the intended improvement in social security has not yet been achieved due to persistent underfunding.

The orchestras partially financed through program funding generate a self-financing ratio of 55 to 86 percent. In order to finance their Basel concert series
In order to be able to pay basic fees in accordance with the tariff recommendations of the Swiss Musicians' Association, they lack CHF 743,000 annually, which they cannot generate additionally on the market either through admissions or fundraising.

The four orchestras are therefore jointly requesting that the orchestra program funding be increased by CHF 743,000 annually from CHF 1,320,000 in the period 2017 to 2019 to CHF 2,063,000 annually in the period 2020 to 2022. Measured against "Basel's cultural budget of over CHF 128,000,000, a relatively small increase", this would "remedy an undisputed grievance regarding the social security of musicians and represent a further step towards strengthening and raising the profile of Basel as a city of music", the orchestras continue.

Young world stars of the classical music scene come from Georgia; Georgian Gija Kantscheli was one of the most acclaimed contemporary composers after Glasnost, also thanks to Luigi Nono's support and his CDs on ECM. The country's musical tradition is respectable, and the Tbilisi Conservatory, founded in 1917 and long influenced by the Soviet Union, is the oldest in the region. It is therefore surprising that the first Georgian ensemble for contemporary music was only founded two years ago. Georgia Modern" recently performed in Zurich at the "Close Encounters" festival, presenting music that somehow conforms to the cliché of neo-tonal, expansive, Eastern European soundscapes - and yet does not. The mixture makes you sit up and take notice. The younger composers Demetre Gamsakhurdia and Giorgi Papiashvili move in a stylistic no-man's land, far removed from formulas.

The concert was also a testament to the quality of the musicians. Composer Reso Kiknadze, who has also been the rector of the Tbilisi University of Music since 2012, emphasized in an interview how important the founding of this ensemble was. However, he also emphasized how much the festival had helped him over the years. The contact is important. However, whether it was an "uncanny encounter of the third kind", as the title of Steven Spielberg's film Close Encounters is translated in each case? If it is an encounter with the alien, even if not extraterrestrial, then - as the Spielberg association suggests - it is a positive one, not one of fear and horror, but one of inspiration and broadening horizons. The Swiss-Georgian festival was founded in 2005 by Tamrika Kordzaia and the composer Felix Profos. The pianist, who herself came to Switzerland from Georgia in 1997, still directs it today and has opened it up stylistically. This "festival for contemporary music" offers not only avant-garde, but also a broad spectrum that includes club concerts, for example, and seeks encounters beyond the musical. This time, Kordzaia invited the Swiss architect Peter Zumthor.

Not only is music from the two countries exchanged, the musicians and music institutions also meet each other. This is enriching for both sides. Kiknadze, who previously worked at the Lübeck University of Music, mainly in the field of electronic music, says that musical life in Tbilisi is very lively and almost more exciting than in Germany. In fact, new things are often still new there. There is a curiosity for experimentation - and an audience. Although the Kunstraum Walcheturm was quite full at the Georgia Modern concert, the ensemble fills larger halls in Tbilisi, albeit not the really big ones. Kordzaia says that a lot of younger people in particular come to the concert.
 

Stylistically, this cannot be narrowed down. Alexandre Kordzaia, for example, who now lives in The Hague and Tbilisi, composes works for classical ensembles, but also mixes pop songs. At the festival, he performed on grand piano and electronics with percussionist Peter Conradin Zumthor - in the joint project "SHWUIIT", which also contains freely improvised passages.

The Mondrian Ensemble in turn performed together with composer Natalia Beridze, who also performs as Tusia or T.B.. She is self-taught and mainly produces electronic music. Mapping Debris is the title of her piece for piano quartet and electronics, which is based on sound and vocal samples that, according to the program booklet, "lay unused on the composer's hard disc. These scraps of sound resemble the wreckage of a crashed airplane, in which it is difficult to recognize a complex structure and which only make sense when they are analytically reassembled." The music doesn't seem like debris at all, but rather well-ordered, but the composition is indeed unusual: calm string gestures, heterogeneous sound fields, pop sprinkles and noise fragments. The mix doesn't seem to me to be genuinely Georgian, but rather stems from a trend that began decades ago in the USA, for example with the Kronos Quartet. But the result is a peculiar kind of music that keeps you occupied afterwards.

Electronic music has a special status in Georgia. This is also due to Reso Kiknadze, who strongly promotes this already older development. As rector of the venerable conservatory, he has not only established the subject of jazz, but also a course in music technology. It is the only school in the entire Caucasus region to offer such a course, and so students from neighboring countries, such as Iran, also come to Tbilisi. This enriches the scene and continues to have an impact.
 

Wüthrich was born in Aeschi (Canton of Bern) and studied at the Bern Conservatory with Sava Savoff (piano) and Sandor Veress (theory). From 1968 to 1972, he also received composition lessons from Klaus Huber. In 1974 he founded the Ensemble mixt media basel, which, according to the entry in the Musinfo directory, is particularly dedicated to works in the intermediate area of music and theater. From 1985 to 2002, Wüthrich was a lecturer in music theory at the Winterthur-Zurich University of Music and since 2009 a member of the Akademie der Künste Berlin.

Wüthrich has won numerous prizes, including the Composition Prize at the Boswil International Composition Competition several times, the Grand Prix Paul Gilson de la Communauté radiophonique des programmes de la langue francaise, the Special Prize for Music of the Canton of Basel-Landschaft, and he was one of the nominees for the 2016 Swiss Music Prize.

This year, Musikmesse will take place on four working days (Tuesday to Friday) for the first time. It is thus focusing more than ever on the professional exchange of international professionals and sharpening its brand essence as the largest European trade fair for the music industry. In this endeavor, for the first time since 2015, Musikmesse will once again open at the same time as Prolight + Sound, the 'Global Entertainment Technology Show'.

Even after the trade fair, the music continues in Frankfurt. For the fourth time, the "Musikmesse Festival" presents highlight concerts in 50 locations and on the exhibition grounds. Including: the talents of the International German Pianist Award as well as - in a big closing concert - soul legend Gregory Porter and the Neue Philharmonie Frankfurt.

Visitors to Musikmesse 2019 can look forward to shorter distances. Hall 3 brings together a wide range of products on two levels, from pianos and keyboards to drums + percussion, guitar and bass, woodwind and brass instruments, string instruments, harmonica instruments and sheet music. For the first time, the entire audio sector is concentrated on one hall level: visitors will find synthesizers and recording equipment as well as products for live sound reinforcement in Hall 8.0.

A new feature is the joint "Networking Area" for Musikmesse and Prolight + Sound in Hall 4.1, which is aimed specifically at dealers and decision-makers in the industry. With its elaborately designed lounge concept, it offers the ideal setting for business talks in a relaxed atmosphere.

The new "Music Education Center" at the Congress Center Messe Frankfurt creates a central platform for the promotion of young talent and further education. One of the highlights will be the Class Music Day (Friday, April 5), which will provide ideas for modern, practice-oriented teaching. On the same day, the European School Music Prize will be awarded to progressive projects in the field of methodical and creative work with musical instruments. There will also be workshops and seminars on music therapy and, for the first time, the award ceremony for the New Therapy Instruments competition.

The "Discover Music" project for young musical explorers offers a voyage of discovery into the world of tones and sounds. Under the pedagogical guidance of experienced members of the Frankfurt Music Academy, schoolchildren can try out instruments to their heart's content.

SongsCon Frankfurt" provides songwriters and producers with assistance in building their professional careers as part of the Musikmesse. The program includes an A&R panel with decision-makers from record labels, songwriting camps and master classes as well as a listening session where creative musicians can get expert feedback on their compositions. The "European Songwriting Award" is also entering a new round. At the award show with live finale (April 5), songwriters and producers can present their compositions to a top-class jury of international A&Rs. The winner will go straight into the studio: there will also be radio and online promo for the best songs.

In addition to workshops, master classes and tutorials, the Musikmesse offers live music by national and international artists throughout the day.

In the evenings, the exhibition grounds become the epicentre of the "Musikmesse Festival" - national and international acts such as pop-rock legend Tony Carey (4.4., Festival Arena), rap legend Samy Deluxe (4.4., Festhalle Frankfurt), a DJ set by Mousse T. & Glasperlenspiel (5.4. Festival Arena) and the internationally successful a cappella band The Real Group (3.4., Festival Arena) take to the stage. A total of around 100 concerts will also take place in 50 Frankfurt clubs and event locations as part of the festival. Musikmesse visitors receive a free festival wristband, with which they can attend Musikmesse Festival events at a reduced price or even free of charge.

The Grand Finale of the International German Pianist Award offers a treat for lovers of top-class piano music (April 1, Alte Oper Frankfurt). Accompanied by the Baden-Baden Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of conductor Douglas Bostock, top young pianists will showcase their skills. The program includes Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 op. 18 in C minor and Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 1 op. 15 in D minor.

On the Saturday after Musikmesse (April 6), Musikmesse Plaza will present a completely new event concept aimed at music enthusiasts of all ages. Together with partners from the creative sector, Messe Frankfurt is organizing a pop-up market with a variety of themed worlds and direct sales: from vintage instruments to sound carriers and lifestyle products. As the highlight of a week full of music and entertainment, music fans can look forward to the closing concert by US soul artist Gregory Porter, who will be performing together with the Neue Philharmonie Frankfurt for the first time.

All further information about the Musikmesse at www.musikmesse.com