In the 1950s, Maurice Wenger brought the organ in the basilica of Valère in Sion (Valais), possibly the oldest organ in the world, back into the public eye. After its restoration, the Festival international de l'orgue ancien et de la musique ancienne (International Festival of Ancient Organ and Ancient Music) was held annually from 1969. After 45 years, Maurice Wenger has now handed over the reins to younger hands; the 46th edition will take place in July and August under Véronique Dubuis.

The instrument, which has been described as "mythical", attracts organists from all over the world who would like to play it. On the other hand, the repertoire for such an unusual instrument is very limited, making it a challenge to put together a varied program for six evenings. This year, the final concert is dedicated to the celebrations of the 200th anniversary of Valais becoming part of the Swiss Confederation. In addition to traditional folk tunes, Annerös Hulliger will also play a composition by Jean-François Michel created especially for the occasion: Valeria.

Program and advance booking: orgueancien-valere.ch/

Basel has often hosted original festivals of new music. For example, the grandiose "European Music Month 2001" or Gidon Kremer's "Les Muséiques", a festival that mainly took place in museums. Now Baselland and Baselstadt have joined forces on the initiative of Beat Gysin to realize the "local" biennial ZeitRäume Basel. Gysin presides over the Zeiträume association, which is responsible for the festival. At the press conference on June 23 in Laufen, festival director Bernhard Günther presented the diverse and exciting program

The concept is captivating: new music conquers new spaces and a new audience. It is also convincing in terms of quality. Renowned composers write pieces for unconventional concert spaces, incorporating the spaces into the compositions. And various school classes and music schools from the city and countryside as well as students from the Music Academy are involved in the productions in original ways.

A total of around 1000 participants will perform in the two Basel venues, and over 20 indoor and outdoor spaces will be acoustically illuminated over the four days of the festival, including the Basel Minster including the cloister and forecourt, the historic city center of Laufenburg, the Volkshaus, the Badischer Bahnhof station concourse, the State Archives, an open hall in the Rhine harbor area, the Lachsländerhof, the Alte Aula in the Natural History Museum and the Stadtcasino.

What is particularly striking about this first Biennale is the mixture of professionals and amateurs, of international greats and local forces. The program features leading international composers such as Georg Friedrich Haas, Dieter Schnebel, James Clarke and Karlheinz Stockhausen as well as Swiss artists Beat Furrer, Daniel Ott and Edu Haubensak. Organizers such as the Basel Symphony Orchestra are for once involved in educational concepts for primary school pupils and music students. This togetherness, which will be revealed in the most unconventional places in Basel, should give the festival a grandiose appeal.

The various sound installations are an important part of this music festival. For example, from September 4, the Swiss Architecture Museum will be showing the exhibition The sound of architecture. Berlin-based composer Peter Ablinger and the Electronic Studio of the Basel Music Academy are developing a concept specially tailored to the ears in the exhibition rooms.

Walter Fähndrich's music installation can be seen in the backyard of the Music Academy. Sunset which immerses the inner courtyard in sound colors subtly attuned to the location. Uncomfortable music There is a "walk-in audio piece" by Peter Ablinger on Theaterplatz, which turns the sounds of the city into a staged experience. Or the mysterious Tunnel Spiral in the tunnel of the City parking garage, where young composers from Basel will set up an interactive sound installation.

The exponents of new music, who are often regarded as elitist, will conquer everyday spaces, as four schoolchildren did at the press conference in Laufen, playing everyday objects. Squatting on a bucket of water, they turned orange plastic buckets with wooden mallets into percussion instruments, an impressive performance in terms of dramaturgy and concentration.

Under the direction of Sylwia Zytynska, around 300 pupils will take part in the Biennale itself, acoustically occupying not only the pretty "Stetli" in Laufen, but also Freiestrasse in the city of Basel. The mayor Alexander Imhof, who was present, was justifiably proud of the enthusiasm for music in Laufen's schools.

www.zeitraeumebasel.com

Musician Roman Mäder, born in 1974, has been awarded a grant of CHF 20,000 to create a recording in the guise of cowboy Larry Bang Bang, whose lyrics play with US clichés. Luca Ramella, born in 1978, will receive a grant of CHF 17,000 to realize a project parodying Italian pop music.

The canton and city of Schaffhausen have been awarding grants to creative artists in Schaffhausen for 14 years. The total amount available for the award is 110,000 francs. The applications are assessed and judged by an independent panel of experts. This year's grants also go to the writer Donat Blum (literature, CHF 15,000), the artists Maya Bringolf and Corinne Gisel (CHF 20,000 each) and Edit Oderbolz (CHF 18,000). At the request of the Board of Trustees, the 2016 studio grants will go to the artists Nora Dal Cero and Alexandra Meyer.

Who composed the symphony for 156 office machines at the 1964 Expo? What compositions did Igor Stravinsky write on Lake Geneva? Were there only women composers in monasteries? And what is so special about Arthur Honegger's music?

When Antoine-Elisée Cherbuliez, Professor of Musicology at the University of Zurich, wrote the first history of Swiss music in 1932, Arthur Honegger was still one of the "young" composers. Since then, there has been no independent publication on Swiss music history. Angelo Garovi now examines musical themes on Swiss territory in numerous brief chapters. He begins with the late Roman water organ at Avenches, addresses the music at the great monasteries of St. Gallen and Engelberg and at the Council of Basel, talks about liturgical games in the late Middle Ages and festival culture in the 19th and 20th centuries, about minnesong and cowbells, the Geneva Psalter and Glareans Dodecachordon. Switzerland also plays a role as a host and inspirational country for famous musicians from neighboring countries.

Angelo Garovi (*1944 in Sarnen) studied German philology, history, music history and organ as well as composition with Mauricio Kagel. Garovi was a music critic in Lucerne, music editor at Swiss Radio SRF in Bern, state archivist for the canton of Obwalden and professor of German philology at the University of Basel. He has lectured at various universities in Switzerland and abroad.

Angelo Garovi, Musikgeschichte der Schweiz, with index of composers' names, 160 pages, illustrated, paperback, Fr. 19.90, Stämpfli, Bern 2015, ISBN 978-3-7272-1448-6

Review by Brigitte Bachmann-Geiser

The planned Klanghaus is intended to replace the Seegüetli course venue above Unterwasser, create an offering from Klangwelt Toggenburg and become a musical and architectural center for natural sound music. As a sound workshop with unique acoustics, the Klanghaus will attract both professional musicians and amateurs for rehearsals, courses, research and experiments.

The room program of the Toggenburg Sound House comprises four acoustically special sound rooms that can be tuned like an instrument. The building is planned as an integral timber construction. The canton is planning the Klanghaus as the client. Klangwelt Toggenburg is to be the operator of the Klanghaus.

The total costs for the construction of the Klanghaus, including all preparatory work, amount to CHF 24.3 million. Of this, CHF 5 million will be financed by foundations and benefactors and legally secured before construction begins. This leaves a credit requirement of CHF 19.3 million for the canton. Accordingly, the cantonal council's decision is subject to a mandatory financial referendum. 

The Klanghaus project by the Meili, Peter Architekten and Staufer & Hasler Architekten consortium is also attracting interest from private individuals, potential sponsors and foundations. According to the canton, a significant proportion of the private third-party funding has already been pledged or promised. The construction project will only be tackled once co-financing of CHF 5 million has been secured from private donors. 

Once the dispatch has been forwarded to the Cantonal Council, the preliminary advisory committee will be appointed in the September session. The first reading in the Cantonal Council is expected to take place in the November 2015 session and the second reading in the February 2016 session. If the Cantonal Council approves the project, the referendum is planned for 2016. If approved by the electorate, construction could begin in 2018.

The repertoire of the North German organ school seems to have been the subject of increased interest in recent years. In addition to a wealth of scholarly editions of sheet music - in some cases even in almost parallel new editions of the same music (e.g. for Buxtehude, Tunder or Weckmann) - various specialist books have also been devoted to the theoretical study of this music. After Jon Laukvik's Organ school for historical performance practice (Baroque and Classicism, Carus 60.002; Romanticism, Carus 60.004; Modernism, Carus 60.006) and Klaus Beckmann's encyclopedic presentation The North German School (2 volumes, Schott ED 9869 and 20088), Paolo Crivellaro, Professor of Organ at the Berlin University of the Arts, now presents a book which, according to the blurb, is aimed at the practical organist who wants to play "with historical awareness".

The approximately 200-page presentation - with around 1000 (!) footnotes - is clearly arranged and touches on all essential aspects of the performance practice of North German Baroque music, such as its stylistic classification, the source situation, the most important genres, instrumental conditions and important organ builders, but also questions of tempo, ornamentation, registration practice, etc. Crivellaro relies primarily on historical quotations, which he comments on; with numerous references to their (sometimes quite contradictory) interpretation in the more recent secondary literature, the author also provides a valuable summary of the current state of research and offers numerous suggestions for in-depth reading in areas where his book can inevitably only provide brief references. Crivellaro's "objective" approach, which for the most part dispenses with judgment, encourages the reader to think actively and form his or her own opinion. Biographical notes on the 15 most important composers of the North German School with an overview of their works and - particularly helpful - information on the instruments in their places of activity round off the presentation.

There are very few concrete interpretative notes in this book, as in Laukvik's work, or analytical information on important works, as provided by Beckmann; occasionally one would have been grateful for illustrative music examples for individual problems, if one does not have the corresponding editions of music close at hand when reading in order to be able to check the practical implementation. Here too, however, the bibliography provides valuable information on the state of publication up to 2010. Paolo Crivellaro's book thus offers a wealth of information for a stylistically appropriate examination of this repertoire, but also obliges the reader interested in this music to take a great deal of initiative in his further study of North German Baroque music. The doors to this are wide open thanks to this excellent book!

Paolo Crivellaro, The North German Organ School. Performance practice according to historical quotations - repertoire - instruments, 208 p., € 68.00, Carus-Verlag, Stuttgart 2014, ISBN 978-3-89948-212-6

This generously designed booklet is aimed at young primary school children in individual or group lessons. Most of the lyrics - even for well-known folk tunes - are written by the author himself and relate in some way to the musical content. For example, Gabi Gans and Günter Geier like each other on the g-string, while Doris Dackel on the d-string is constantly thinking of fat Dieter Dachs. All the melodies not only want to be played, but also sung.

There is a whole page available for almost all pieces, so that the overview is always maintained despite graphic aids, polyphonic arrangements, additional accompanying teacher parts and colored illustrations. Each guitar string is assigned a specific color. (In lessons, corresponding highlighter pens can be used in parallel). The children are introduced to the world of tones, rhythm and song accompaniment with great care and didactic thought. After an initial phase of thumb playing on the notes g-d', the alternate beat is demonstrated. Reduced chords are used as accompaniment, which are struck with the index finger on the three melody strings. The thumb and alternate stroke are combined into a non-simultaneous two-part attack, and the "free" attack of the index finger is also introduced alternately with the thumb - as a pendulum attack.

The relatively quick introduction of different touch techniques opens up various combination possibilities in group playing. But the volume also offers attractive material for individual lessons. The order of the notes to be learned does not follow any particular scheme, but is pragmatically adapted to the characteristics of the guitar fingerboard. For example, although the pupils learn the D-sharp and G-sharp, some lower root notes are missing; a suitable follow-up course by another author might not be so easy to find. We are therefore eagerly awaiting a second volume!

Burkhard Wolters, Alles Gitarre! School for group and individual lessons; without CD: ED 21710, € 14.00; with CD: ED 21710-50, € 19.50; Schott, Mainz 2014

"The tuba players play in the lowlands of music, in sound catacombs, (...) they are half-blind tone weights, they are the miners of music, the doormat of the orchestra." With these words, the German cabaret artist Olaf Schubert began his humorous presentation of the 2013 Echo Klassik prizewinner, the young tuba player Andreas Martin Hofmeir, at the concert for the award ceremony in the Berlin Konzerthaus. The eccentric Hofmeir, who plays barefoot like Patricia Kopatchinskaja, who is almost the same age, is the typical anti-star, someone who tries to shake things up, is involved in all musical genres and therefore cannot be pigeonholed: Orchestral musician, chamber musician, folk musician, pop musician, cabaret artist, lecturer at the Mozarteum Salzburg. A star after all!

Art needs such driving forces in order to create something new. And if anyone can tackle this for the "miners of music", it is Hofmeir. So it comes as no surprise that this exceptional artist asked his Hungarian tuba colleague and composer friend Roland Szentpali to write a work for him in order to generate literature for his underestimated solo instrument. Szentpali, only one year older than Hofmeir, presented a work with a curious instrumentation in 2014 - matching the curiosity of Hofmeir - with which he proved Olaf Schubert wrong: the Chill Fantasy for tuba, piano, percussion and string quintet. Everything is demanded of the soloist here, and the tuba turns out to be a highly acrobatic, agile solo instrument capable of incredibly high notes. The basic jazzy orientation of the piece is supported by the possibility of free improvisation (for tuba and piano) on jazz harmonies, whereby the composer offers a fully composed version for "non-jazzers". A solo piece for tuba that only conforms to a certain classical standard in its three movements, but is otherwise more likely to be understood and enjoyed as a musical Kneipp cure - barefoot, of course!

Roland Szentpali: Chill Fantasy for tuba, piano, drum set and string quintet, TU185; score and parts Fr. 78.00; orchestral score Fr. 42.00; Editions Bim, Vuarmarens 2015

On Supermoon Sophie Hunger presents herself as a musician who has found herself - in the field of tension between singer-songwriter tradition, impulses from jazz and electronics as well as unconventional lyrics that are still of central importance. This is particularly evident in the title track, where she initially appears almost classical with her acoustic guitar and musing vocals. A pulsating beat, shimmering background sounds and subtle effects bring not only a contemporary component, but also a latent restlessness to a deceptively relaxed interplay between dark and light moods.

The folk influence of this song refers to the place of origin in California. The CD cover also features a psychedelically distorted picture of Sophie Hunger with a guitar, as if she were a West Coast folk singer from around 1970. Love Is Not The Answer whose title can be understood as a reversal of the slogan that is still used today. The humor is particularly evident in the accompanying video clip, which ends in a massacre of flowers. The piece is particularly funny musically Superman Womanwhich turns out to be a veritable stylistic potpourri.

However, most of the songs are characterized by thoughtfulness, a peculiarity that The whole world is reinforced by the choice of High German. "I watch CNN, beheaded Kurds and a world record in tracking", she sings with caustic laconicism. This is the only part of the album where Sophie Hunger then lapses into declamation, which seemed mannered in some earlier tracks (and probably also contributed a lot to her polarizing effect): "Uhhh, I'm so up-slurred!" And that fits in this context too, especially in the interplay with devoted "duuu-u-u-u-u-uuu" singing, which lacks any sentimentality. Sophie Hunger impresses to a large extent because she is a master of phrasing - and not just here.

Like Stephan Eicher, Sophie Hunger also cultivates multilingualism and forgotten songs. With La Chanson d'Hélène is a wistful love song that became famous as a duet by Romy Schneider and Michel Piccoli. Sophie Hunger interprets it together with the former footballer and actor Eric Cantona almost as enigmatically poetic. Once again, however, a dialect song is particularly haunting. In Heicho Sophie Hunger discusses her life between a sense of home and restlessness. "But I'm sure I'll get stronger," she sums up dryly.

Sophie Hunger: Supermoon. Caroline/Universal. Information, videos and music excerpts: www.sophiehunger.com

Although there are numerous masterpieces among them, only very few Polish art songs entered the world repertoire. In addition to prejudices, the lack of internationally successful singers and linguistic difficulties stood in the way of widespread dissemination. With its many sibilants and nasal sounds, the Polish language does not make it easy to attract performers who can be expected to have tongue-breaking skills as well as an understanding of a special, predominantly Slavic world of sound and expression.

All the more reason to be grateful to mezzo-soprano Bernadeta Sonnleitner, who trained at the Frédéric Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw and the Bern University of the Arts, and Polish pianist Jakub Tchorzewski for a CD packed with premiere recordings, which introduces us to representative samples of six important composers from Poland. The selection of Stanisław Moniuszko, who wrote around 300 songs and is regarded as the "Polish Schubert", may have been so delicate that he was ultimately omitted. In his place, Chopin leads the Romantics, whose last representative Mieczysław Karłowicz (1876-1909) stands out with consistently expressive songs from opus 3.

In the Three fragments (Jan Kasprowicz) op. 5 by Karol Szymanowski, the singer escalates into operatic pathos. Less vibrato would also have been better in Roman Palester's Vokalise Dreamscape by Andrzej Panufnik and in Lutosławski's crystal-clear Five songs based on poems by Kazimira Iłłakowicz would have been desirable. However, both performers fully exploit the emotional and spiritual content of the stylistically very different songs with audible commitment. In addition to the original Polish text, the booklet contains translations into English and Italian.

Polish Music - Songs. Chopin, Karłowicz, Szymanowski, Palester, Lutosławski, Panufnik. Bernadeta Sonnleitner, mezzo-soprano; Jakub Tchorzewski, piano. Acte Préalable APO 337

Born in 1963, Marie Louise Werth studied piano and organ at the Zurich Conservatory. She won the national Concours Eurovision de la Chanson with the group Furbaz in 1989. She began a solo career in 1992. Since the comeback of the Furbaz in 2004, she has performed an annual Christmas tour exclusively with the group.

In 2014, after 25 years, she once again won the Prix Walo as "Audience Favorite for Extraordinary Achievements in 2013". Marie Louise Werth was a member of the Suisa Distribution and Works Commission from 1993 to 2015.

Born in 1979, Zeno Gabaglio studied philosophy and holds a diploma in
in cello and a master's degree in improvisation. He has composed the soundtracks to around 20 European films, which have won awards at major international festivals. He has also created music for the theater on numerous occasions. In the course of his career, he has worked with musicians such as Bugge Wesseltoft, Michel Godard, Villi Hermann, Frankie Hi NRG, Teho Teardo, Vinko Globokar, Peter Kernel and René Burri.

Zeno Gabaglio has always been active as a critic and promoter of new music in Italian-speaking Switzerland. He is also a member of the jury for the Swiss Music Prize and the cantonal sub-commission for music.

The Demotape Clinic is the most established competition for up-and-coming Swiss musicians. For the 17th edition, newcomers from all over Switzerland submitted 681 songs from the pop, rock, urban and electronic categories. A jury listened to all the songs and presented the best ones on March 27 and 28, 2015 at m4music, the Migros Culture Percentage pop music festival. Industry professionals commented on the tracks in front of the festival audience and gave the bands valuable tips.

The most exciting demos, including the winners of the Fondation Suisa Awards, are brought together on a compilation for the tenth time: The Best of Demotape Clinic 2015. m4music festival director Philipp Schnyder from Wartensee is delighted with the CD: "I am convinced that we have once again tracked down a number of talents this year who will be making a name for themselves in the future. At the same time, the compilation shows how diverse and active the Swiss pop music scene is."

With Manoirthe first track on the compilation, FlexFab won in the Electronic category as well as the main prize "Demo of the Year 2015". After a few gigs in Belgium, the 25-year-old from Neuchâtel will be playing at this year's Paléo Festival in Nyon. The Chikitas from Geneva, who also hail from French-speaking Switzerland, won the prize in the Rock category and are currently working on their new album in Los Angeles. The winner in the pop category, Don't Kill the Beast, is no stranger to the Swiss music scene: the bassist of Basel band Sheila She Loves You has worked on his solo project in Paris with musician Marcello Giuliani, who has also produced for well-known artists such as The Young Gods and Sophie Hunger. In contrast to this are the comparatively young musicians of the band Pedestrians from Baden: All around twenty years old, the band from Aargau won in the Urban category, their second award after the bandXaargau competition.

Under www.m4music.ch/de/demotape-clinic the compilation can be listened to as a stream. It will also be released as a CD in a limited edition of 4,500 copies, which will be sent to the most important decision-makers in the Swiss music scene. The CD will not go on sale, but can be ordered online free of charge (while stocks last).

The next edition of m4music will take place from April 14 to 16, 2016 in Zurich and Lausanne.

Authors, institutions and editors of musicological publications will be able to "publish books and essays quickly and transparently", writes Schott Music.

All texts published on the "Schott Campus" platform are open access, i.e. freely accessible. At the same time, the publisher will offer books for sale throughout the German and international book market as paperbacks, hardbacks and e-books, as well as making them available to libraries. Schott Music uses the distribution and technology infrastructure of the publishing service provider tredition for the platform.

Each publication undergoes a multi-stage quality assurance process that has been developed together with GfM. At the launch of the platform, Schott Music is offering selected texts from its program. GfM, which has supported Schott Music in setting up the platform, is planning to publish its own series of publications via Schott Campus

According to Peter Hanser-Strecker, publisher and Chairman of the Management Board of Schott Music, the offer is intended to enable "a contemporary form of publishing" and guarantee a "high degree of independence with the usual high publishing quality".

More info: www.schott-campus.com