All publishers want to make money from pieces that no pupil can ignore. Bach's two- and three-part inventions belong in every lesson on a keyboard instrument in order, as he himself wrote, "to acquire a cantabile way of playing and also to get a strong foretaste of composition". No wonder that Peters-Verlag, after years of income from the editions by Carl Czerny (1840) and Ludwig Landshoff (1933) and the facsimile of the original manuscript (1942), now wants to participate in the market success of this music again.

For Ulrich Bartels, a former employee of the Bach Institute in Göttingen, it was a simple matter to edit the Critical Report on the 1970 edition of the New Bach Edition, which was only completed by his colleagues in 2007, and - following the last restoration of the original source in 2003 - to reveal further traces of the working process within Bach's own manuscript. Little has changed in the actual music text as a result - for the most part it follows the layout and details of the Bach edition. Only the use of warning accidentals has been reduced, and in the three-part symphonies the middle part has been rearranged here and there to make it easier to read the music. This could be done even more consistently in order to finally obtain an optimal, scholarly and practically useful edition.

One more thing: even if the copies by Bach's pupils Gerber and Kayser are philologically regarded merely as secondary sources, a transcription of all their ornaments into the main text would be desirable in order to make it clear to today's pianists that such "essential ornaments" were part of the music even if there were even fewer of them (or none at all) in the notes.

Johann Sebastian Bach: 15 two-part inventions BWV 772-786, 15 three-part symphonies BWV 787-801, edited by Ulrich Bartels, EP 11422, € 14.95, Edition Peters, Leipzig etc. 2015

When August Wenzinger recorded Monteverdi's opera 'Orfeo' in Basel in 1955, only a few insiders were interested. The anniversary of the 450th birthday of the great Italian composer shows just how much this has changed, as the repertoire this year is teeming with his works: Madrigals, operas and the Marian Vespers here and there.

There are also a number of new books, two of which deserve special mention. One is Silke Leopold: the professor emeritus from Heidelberg has been working on Monteverdi for decades and has now published a new biography with Carus/Reclam. Reading Leopold is always enriching and a great pleasure. This is no different in this case. She tells the story of Monteverdi's career from his beginnings in Cremona through his time at court in Mantua to his position as conductor at San Marco Cathedral in Venice. The fact that the author also includes the political and cultural environment makes this biography particularly exciting. When Leopold includes information that goes beyond the sparse details of his life and work, she never does so in a cramped, contrived manner. And the way she draws conclusions about historical events and the Italian's thinking from Monteverdi's madrigal prints via the prefaces and printing locations is fascinating.

The author's skill lies in her ability to offer both laypeople and a specialist audience food for thought, and she does not shy away from references to the present, for example when she describes the plot of Il pastor fido as "not unlike a modern-day telenovela". The innovation in the madrigal Cruda Amarillis from this very "telenovela" describes it as follows: "What is striking about these compositions is Monteverdi's determined attempt to turn the five voices of the madrigalian movement into a speaking person, an individual, and to transform the polyphonic composition into a kind of dramatic scene."

Silke Leopold's musical explanations and cultural-historical observations result in a dazzling kaleidoscope of the period around 1600. The appendix with biographical information, a list of works, a list of prints and a glossary, where beginners can find information on musical instruments, interpretation and work designations, is valuable.

Supplied with Leopold's information, one should read the monograph published by Schott Claudio Monteverdi - The discovery of passion by Michael Heinemann should not be missed. The author approaches Monteverdi's music from the perspective of listening, but assumes a certain amount of knowledge. Without knowledge of the form of the madrigal or of Monteverdi's operas Orfeo, Poppea and Ulisses is not about reading.

His explanations are most interesting when they can be coupled with listening experiences, i.e. when his explanations can be directly compared with sound examples. Heinemann, who is a professor of musicology in Dresden, also knows how to break down his specialist knowledge to an understandable level. As a result, this book is also a great pleasure to read. The chapter titles alone are enough to whet the appetite: "I sing, therefore I am - Orfeo's world design" or "Church music, counterpoint and calculation" are just two examples.

A quote from the chapter "Sound stimuli" may illustrate Heinemann's writing style: "The popularity that Monteverdi's music gained did not result from erudition. Not from the correct use of dissonances or because of its artificial polyphony. (...) Rather, it is due to a simplicity that should not be confused with plainness, but rather means a directness that expresses affects immediately and seemingly without reflection."

Silke Leopold: Claudio Monteverdi. Biography, 256 p., € 28.00, Carus/Reclam, Stuttgart 2017, ISBN 978-3-15-011093-5

Michael Heinemann: Claudio Monteverdi - The Discovery of Passion, 178 p., € 24.50, Schott, Mainz 2017, ISBN 978-3-7957-1213-6

Compared to the previous year, the increase amounted to 1.6 percent. According to Suisa, the good result is mainly due to higher revenues from the use of music on private radio and TV stations, from remuneration for private copying and from the online sector. Last year, Suisa received CHF 6.1 million for online music usage, 10.7% more than in the previous year (CHF 5.6 million). In 2016, income from streaming was higher than that from downloads for the first time.

Suisa (the abbreviation stands for "Suisse Auteurs") is increasingly taking direct cross-border action to protect rights in the online sector. By founding the joint venture Mint Digital Services with the US organization Sesac this year, it has taken a step towards better representing the interests of its members in the online sector. Mint has already acquired an important major client in the form of major publisher Warner/Chappell Music.

Last year, Suisa slightly reduced its cost deduction to 12.37%. This means that around 88 out of every 100 francs collected is distributed to authors and publishers. The annual result also testifies to "successful negotiations for tariffs and terms of use as well as reliable customers and business partners", Suisa continued.
 

The motion by the National Council's Committee for Transport and Telecommunications (KVF-N) specifically wants to delete Radio Swiss Pop, Radio Swiss Classic, Radio Swiss Jazz, Radio SRF Virus, Radio SRF Musikwelle and Radio RTS Option Musique.

According to the initiators of the petition, the special-interest channels in particular promote Swiss music to a high degree. The special-interest channels have a share of up to 50 percent of Swiss music played. Overall, the figure for all SRG stations is 20 percent. In addition, they are irreplaceable for Swiss artists with their coverage of the current Swiss music scene.

The petition is supported by, among others: Schweizer Musikrat / Musikschaffende Schweiz / Schweizer Musiksyndikat / Schweizer Tonkünstlerverein / Schweizerischer Musikerverband SMV / Helvetia Rockt / IndieSuisse / IFPI / Schweizer Interpretengenossenschaft SIG / Eidgenössische Jodlerverband EJV / Schweizerischer Blasmusikverband SBV / Schweizerische Chorvereinigung SCV / Verband Schweizer Volksmusik VSV.

More info: www.petitionen24.com/hande_weg_von_den_spartenradios

In 2016, the ZHdK's research institutes underwent an evaluation for the first time on behalf of the UAS Council. It was also given an excellent rating in an international comparison. A newly launched project now aims to further strengthen the link between research and teaching. Work is also underway to further develop the professorship model. The aim is to give professorships at the ZHdK a clearer profile.

In 2016, the ZHdK worked on 67 research projects and completed around a third of them. 40 percent of research expenditure, amounting to around CHF 10 million, was financed by third-party funds. Important contributors were the Swiss National Science Foundation SNSF, the Commission for Technology and Innovation CTI and private foundations.

The doctoral programs, which the ZHdK runs in cooperation with international partners, are also rated particularly positively in the reviews of the research units. During the project period from 2017 to 2020, the ZHdK is cooperating with the Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design, the University of Reading and the University of Art and Design Linz. Another program will be carried out jointly with ETH and the University of Zurich.

The ZHdK is planning to establish and award an honorary title in recognition of outstanding achievements by individuals who have made a special contribution to the arts and design. The university's honorary doctorate, the Dr. h.c., will be replaced by the "Honorary Companion ZHdK". The first award is planned for the 2017 University Day in October.

A great opera story that is itself about opera and is based on true events (and rumors): On June 29, 1910, the conductor Dr. Aloys Obrist shot his former lover Anna Sutter and then himself in her apartment at Schubartstrasse 8 in Stuttgart. That morning, the singer had just been intimate with her new lover, the bass-baritone Albin Swoboda, when Obrist paid her a surprise visit. Swoboda hid in a cupboard. After Sutter had once again denied Obrist's protestations of love, the shots were fired. The case caused a sensation, as Sutter was the celebrated star of the Stuttgart Opera, for example as the Merry Widow, Salome and Carmen. And so the Swabian chronicle: "Frln. Sutter is lying in bed, her right arm spread wide and her left arm, which was wounded by the bullets, bent together. As in Carmenher leading role, she lay there." Ten thousand people attended the funeral, and Karl Donndorf's Fountain of Destiny in the palace gardens still commemorates the incident today. It was never forgotten in Stuttgart.

In 2001 there was an exhibition there; in the same year the novella Anna's mask from Alain Claude Sulzerand the opera of the same name by the St. Gallen-born composer is now also based on it David Philip Hefti. As Anna Sutter herself came from Wil, this new play has, so to speak, double birthright in St. Gallen, where it was premiered on May 6 (further performances until June 3). Sulzer's libretto recounts the events leading up to the crime, Obrist's importunities, his dismissal from the theater, Sutter's flirtations and finally the crime itself - all in ten scenes, surrounded by a prologue and epilogue. The fact that Sutter's maid Pauline and police inspector Heid subsequently became a couple forms the framework.

Hefti's first opera, as he emphasizes, had to cover three times as much musical time as ever in a single composition; and he has done so skilfully, entertainingly and clearly. His music sounds transparent, is not hectic and does not waste its powder too early; on the contrary, it develops continuously over the ninety minutes towards the haunting conclusion. There is an instrumental epilogue that builds up once again, a "music of destiny", as Hefti calls it. This demonstrates his wealth of experience in dealing with the orchestral apparatus. Under the direction of Otto Tausk, the St. Gallen Symphony Orchestra once again intensifies its performance.

What Hefti does in the orchestra pit and how he uses the small choir not to act, but to reinforce the action as a static commentator, gives the piece a strong effect. He also skillfully uses the percussion elements to create moods, but also as a continuo for the singing. In the program booklet, Hefti explains how he grew more and more into the genre during his compositional work. "I think you can see that in the opera. The first part consists of large scenes in which the words carry a lot of weight and the plot is prepared. From about halfway through, the music is given more space, the sounds are allowed to expand and breathe."

This is the strength of the new piece, but at the same time it also points to its weaknesses. The vocals, the singing/declaiming, the recitar cantando, which should lead to an emotional tension from the language, remain too uncharacteristic. In this respect, the opera seems comparatively flat. One does take notice when Obrist (Daniel Brenna) soars into almost Puccini-like and kitschy cantilenas, one notices when a Carmen-But this seems too conceived, not penetrated and experienced. As clear and singable as the language is, too little happens beyond that. Maria Riccarda Wesseling is convincing as Anna Sutter, but I would have liked her to have a little more diva-like quality in her voice, for example. Ultimately, the piece remains too realistic or perhaps even too honest for long stretches, not sufficiently developing the conflicts, the creepy as well as the pathetic. Overall, it comes across as too dignified and sober (also in terms of the libretto), as if it doesn't want to touch on the essentials. A directorial trick copied from Thornton Wilder - not using props (such as flowers) but only hinting at them - points to this shortcoming. The multi-storey stage designed by director Mirella Weingarten appears cool in its geometry, but does not condense the situation - and the voices come across as similarly distant. This opera thus misses out on the operatic quality, the overwhelming "powerhouse of emotions" (Alexander Kluge) that the material so obviously contains.

In 2016, HSLU-M had 136 teaching staff with a workload of more than 20 percent, 32 percent of whom were women. In addition, there were 34 assistants and academic staff and 33 people in administration and technology. 

In 2016, 7 research projects were running at HSLU-M, 3 of which were mainly funded by the CTI or the Swiss National Science Foundation. The number of projects has fallen sharply over the past 5 years. In 2012, there were still 25. At CHF 25.354 million, HSLU-M's costs in 2016 were slightly lower than the previous year (CHF 25.676 million).

The HSLU-M offers courses in classical music, jazz, church and folk music, music education and music and movement. Specializations are possible, for example, in new music, composition, improvisation, music theory, conducting/school music or chamber music.

Students can gain stage experience thanks to collaborations with the Lucerne Festival, the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, the Lucerne Theater and the Jazzkantine Luzern. The Lucerne School of Music has an additional profile in the field of music education research and in answering research questions on performance practice.   

The location and reason for the project is the wall planned by President Donald Trump to be built between the USA and Mexico, which already exists in many places. The orchestra writes that the cancellation by the USA will prevent the planned cross-border collaboration between US artists, the Dresden Symphony Orchestra and Mexican musicians. The free concert on June 3 will now take place exclusively on the Mexican side.

The Dresden Symphony Orchestra is now calling on US artists, musicians and like-minded people in particular to take part in their own actions or flash mobs along the entire 3144 km border on the same day. The authorities' ban is limited exclusively to the concert by the Dresden Symphony Orchestra in Friendship Park/San Diego. Everyone is invited to take part and share videos of their own actions via a hashtag.

More info:
www.dresdner-sinfoniker.de/teardownthiswall-letter

This year, over 6000 schoolchildren are expected to attend the festival. Thanks to the support of the Fribourg Cantonal Bank, the school screenings will exceptionally be free of charge for the classes. To encourage attendance at the screenings, public transport costs have also been significantly reduced thanks to the partnership with the TPF.

Following the call for proposals launched in September 2016, the Culture & School project received around 60 proposals for its annual program from over 30 cultural event organizers, mainly from Fribourg. Of these, over 40 performances, concerts, workshops or guided tours have already been published in German and French on the program's web portal and are actively used by pupils at all HarmoS levels.

The offer is updated and expanded several times a year. School classes can take advantage of one cultural offer per school year at a reduced price.

More info: www.kulturundschule.ch
 

According to the study, the average campaign sums achieved vary greatly within the categories (between CHF 5700 in the "Dance, Theater" category and CHF 111,296 in the "Technology, Business, Start-up" category). The average amount of funding for a "Music, concerts, music festivals" campaign and a campaign in the "Sport, health" category was just under CHF 7,600. The figure for "Society, social projects" was CHF 9,200.

The authors of the study expect further growth in the crowdfunding market in 2017 with a volume of CHF 300 to 400 million. "Providers in the areas of real estate crowdinvesting, SME crowdlending and crowdlending for mortgages in particular will see an above-average increase in volume," says Dietrich. He also expects high growth in crowdfunding in the sports sector: "Clubs in particular are increasingly discovering crowdfunding as a source of financing, for example for new sports equipment, hall or pitch renovations."

Link to the study:
https://blog.hslu.ch/retailbanking/files/2017/05/Crowdfunding-Monitoring-2017_D_final_V3.pdf

The Rafale Trio has already won numerous international prizes. It made its debut at London's Wigmore Hall in 2014, at the Berlin Philharmonie in 2015/16 and at the Lucerne Festival in 2016. In 2016, it was also accepted into the Beethoven-Haus Bonn mentoring program.

His debut CD with works by Schumann and Ravel was released in 2012 on the monton label. A second with works by Vasks and Brahms followed in 2013 on Acousence. The CD "Early Works" was released this February by Coviello Classics.

This time, a total of 155 jurors of the German Record Critics' Award (PdSK e.V.) reviewed and evaluated the new releases of audio and video recordings of the last quarter in 32 categories. 256 titles were nominated for the longlist. 27 titles made the cut.

Denis Zhdanov began his musical studies in the Ukraine and has won prizes at the Polish Arthur Rubinstein Piano Festival and the Maria Canals Piano Competition in Barcelona, among others. The Bernese tenor Remy Burnens studies solo singing with Peter Brechbühler at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. Among other things, he is the 2017 Migros Culture Percentage study prize winner.

The pianist Alexandra Sikorskaya and the violinist Sofiia Suldina will each receive an Edwin Fischer Recognition Award, endowed with 1000 francs each.

In memory of Edwin Fischer (1886-1960), the Lucerne School of Music and the Dreilinden Conservatory Association, in consultation with the Edwin Fischer Foundation, organize an annual competition for Master's students with a classical music profile. The aim of the foundation is to promote young musicians in the fields of jazz and classical music, to support musical life in Lucerne and to promote the Lucerne School of Music.
 

The winners of the Swiss Music Prize 2017 are: Pascal Auberson (Lausanne), Andres Bosshard (Zurich), Albin Brun (Lucerne), Christophe Calpini (Longirod), Elina Duni (Zurich), Vera Kappeler (Haldenstein), Jürg Kienberger (Winterthur & St.Louis), Patricia Kopatchinskaja (Bern), Grégoire Maret (New York), Jojo Mayer (New York), Peter Scherer (Zurich), Endo Anaconda (Fankhaus-Trub), Töbi Tobler (Wittenbach), Helena Winkelman (Basel) and Jürg Wyttenbach (Basel).

The aim of the Swiss Music Prize is to "recognize outstanding and innovative Swiss music and bring it to the public's attention". From jazz, contemporary music, chanson and classical music to film, folk and improvisational music, the prize reflects "the outstanding and diverse spectrum of music creation in Switzerland", according to the BAK.

The ISCM World Music Days is the annual festival of the International Society for Contemporary Music, founded in 1922, http://iscm.org) and will take place in 2017 from November 2 to 8 on Canada's west coast in Vancouver. The works to be selected are submitted by the 65 country sections and presented to the festival jury. The submissions from the Swiss Society for New Music SGNM/SSMC will be coordinated by its Vice President Nicolas Farine. The program of the ISCM WMD 2017 is available at http://iscm2017.ca/home/ online.

Dragos Tara was born in Bucharest in 1976 and grew up in Switzerland. The Lausanne-based double bassist and composer studied composition and electro-acoustic music with Michael Jarell, Eric Gaudibert, Emmanuel Nunes, Nicolas Bolens, Luis Naon and Rainer Boesch. He is a co-founder and member of the Association Rue du Nord, the Compagnie du Phonoscope and CH.AU. His works have been performed by Vortex, the NEC and Phoenix, and he was granted residencies at STEIM Amsterdam and CMMAS in Mexico in 2008, 2010 and 2013. In 2014 he was nominated for the Swiss Music Prize. His piece "Pixel" is a hybrid between installation and concert piece for solo double bass and live electronics and was premiered at the Festival Présences Electroniques in Geneva.

For 28 years, the Schaffhausen Jazz Festival has been documenting the Swiss jazz scene almost completely as a showcase of current Swiss jazz. The donation will "not only guarantee professional archiving, but also create public access", similar to what the HSLU Music is already doing with the archive of the Willisau Jazz Festival, write those responsible.

Together with the Swiss National Sound Archives, the university will process, catalog and store the material - over 3000 application documents, over 2500 hours of sound recordings by SRF 2 Kultur, media reports and festival photographs, concert videos, all advertising material (posters, program booklets, flyers and so on) - in order to make it accessible to the public as an online archive via the Schaffhausen Jazz Festival website in around two years' time.