The Swiss-French Wind ensemble Astera consists of Coline Richard (flute), Yann Thenet (oboe), Gabriel Potier (horn), Moritz Roelcke (clarinet) and Jeremy Bager (bassoon), who are all former students of the Haute Ecole de Musique de Lausanne. They came together from all over Europe straight after their studies to form this ensemble and cultivate their shared passion for chamber music. Their different personal experiences have enriched their cohesion, their sound and their musical affinity within the wind quintet.

They are members of or work with renowned orchestras such as the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, the Orchestre National de Lille, the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig or the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande.

According to Andreas Sundén, chairman of the jury and principal clarinettist of the Swedish Radio Orchestra, "the sound of this ensemble is refined and precise. With a balanced energy, convincing both as a group and individually, their playing is characterized by reflection and a deep expression for the composer."

Held every four years, the Carl Nielsen Chamber Music Competition is aimed at young string quartets and wind quintets. After a video pre-selection, it goes through three rounds; from a large repertoire, the ensembles also present a commissioned work that was composed especially for the competition.

It is a piece of wonderful music that still surprises in several ways today. First of all, this nocturne sounds nothing like the Dvořák, whom we think we know from his all-too-present American period. The genesis alone makes one curious. The movement originally comes from an early string quartet in E minor (1869/70). It was then incorporated (with extended instrumentation) into the String Quintet in G major op. 77 (here already with double bass), was removed again - and finally took on a life of its own as the Nocturne in B major with a revised second part.

The movement also leaves a lot of scope for the interpreter. Even an initial overview of the available recordings reveals an astonishing result: the Nachtstück, with its total of 51 bars, can be played very quickly and fluently in under six minutes or celebrated almost standing still in over nine minutes. As always, the truth lies in the middle, whereby the flow of the 12/8 time signature should be maintained. Even if the violoncello plays for what feels like an eternity on the fifth F sharp This movement has it all, is challenging and will make the auditorium revel, whether in a simple chamber music setting or more palatable with a choral ensemble. The five crosses may seem daunting at first, but they create a sound effect of enchanting luminosity.

The current Bärenreiter edition can draw on a newly discovered engraver's model of the piece and thus corrects some readings. Above all, however, the edition (score and a string section 4-4-3-2-1) is very clean, clear and beautifully set. A worthwhile addition to the repertoire.

Antonín Dvořák: Nocturne for string orchestra in B major op. 40, edited by Jonáš Hájek, score and set of parts BA 11564, € 29.50, Bärenreiter, Prague  

Jewish music has a rich history spanning over 3000 years. It has been significantly shaped by the diaspora, life as a religious minority in different countries, and the resulting incorporation of a wide variety of national musical styles and practices.

With the Hebrew choir book Berlin-based choral conductor and arranger Ohad Stolarz has now published a remarkable collection with a high repertoire value with Breitkopf und Härtel. In two volumes, he presents sacred, paraliturgical and secular classics from the core repertoire of Israeli cultural history. His colorful arrangements for a cappella choir are easy to perform and perfectly capture the mood of the songs. An informative preface, singable transliterations of the Hebrew texts, translations, pronunciation aids and detailed introductions to the works in the appendix make the Hebrew choir book a real recommendation.

Hebräisches Chorbuch for mixed choir a cappella, edited by Ohad Stolarz; Volume 1: Sacred repertoire, ChB 5375; Volume 2: Secular repertoire, ChB 5376, € 19.90 each; Breitkopf & Härtel, Wiesbaden 2022

It's Rachmaninov time, as his 150th birthday is being celebrated everywhere. The Russian composer spent several years of his exile on Lake Lucerne in the Villa Senar, which is currently being renovated and will then be opened to the public. All the more reason for the Basel Symphony Orchestra to present two of his important works on CD.

This is also made possible by the successful Swiss label Prospero, run by Martin Korn. The following were recorded Rhapsody on a theme by Paganini op. 43 and the Piano Concerto No. 3 op. 30 at the Stadtcasino Basel. A Swiss production that has it all, also thanks to the excellent pianist Irina Georgieva. The Romanian has had close ties with Basel for years, having studied here with Rudolf Buchbinder. Her piano playing is phenomenal, delicate, always wonderfully audible and never "thick", not even in Rachmaninov's chordal force. She already shows this calling card in the Paganini Variations, which she performs in a chamber music style with a gentle touch and wonderful phrasing. The Basel Symphony Orchestra under Sascha Goetzel provides attentive and restrained accompaniment. It begins with the orchestra's introduction of the theme with short, soft accents, an ideal preparation for the pianist's interpretation. This puts the listener in the mood for the 3rd Piano Concerto, the second work on the CD program, right from the start.

In this piano concerto, Rachmaninov is more diverse in his instrumentation, more varied and less concerned with pure effect than in the second. And it is precisely here that one is amazed at what the Basel Symphony Orchestra, this time under the direction of Pablo Gonzáles, has to offer in terms of audibility, subtlety of sound and finesse. A red carpet for Irina Georgieva, who masters the extraordinarily difficult piano part as if it were the easiest thing in the world. Only in the spectacular finale would one wish for a little more courage to make a grand, sweeping gesture.

Sergei Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 3, Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. Irina Georgieva, Basel Symphony Orchestra, Sascha Goetzel/Pablo Gonzáles. Prospero Records Prosp0025

It is written in large letters on the cover: Stage fright. The full title reads: Master your stage fright - With mental training to a successful performance. This is the shortest possible summary of this practical and enjoyable book by Renate Publig. Her writing is light and clear, with graphic elements and drawings that get to the heart of the matter and motivate readers to tackle the problem with hope.

Theoretical information mostly remains in the background, the focus is on practical exercises from A for affirmations to Z for touching toes and breathing, all clearly arranged in a register at the end. On the one hand, these are instructions for "acute interventions" when stage fright chokes the throat immediately before the performance or even on stage. On the other hand, "long-term interventions" help to systematically practise a positive way of dealing with stage fright over an extended period. The guide is ideal for self-therapy. However, anyone who is plagued by panic attacks over a longer period of time should seek help from a specialist instead of resorting to beta blockers. A "middle word from actor Max Müller" right at the beginning and a closing word from José Cura form a harmonious framework.

Renate Publig: Master your stage fright. With mental training to a successful performance. Singing, speech, acting, 197 p., € 29.80, Doblinger, Vienna 2021, ISBN 978-3-902667-84-7

In the middle of the historic center of Münster (Goms), not far from the Rhone Glacier and Finsteraarhorn, the "Mebu" an art space for contemporary music. The name is short for "Münster Earport by UMS 'n JIP" and is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the neighboring Münster Airport. But it also makes it clear that the focus at Mebu is on playing and listening to music. It was founded and is run by New music duo UMS 'n JIP (Ulrike Mayer-Spohn and Javier Hagen), which as a result of the pandemic - rehearsal and work spaces were no longer available during the lockdowns - has pitched its tents in Münster and set up a permanent production and performance venue there.

A unique feature of the Mebu is a permanently installed 16-channel acousmonium for the reproduction of electro-acoustic (acousmatic) music - one of the few of its kind open to the public in Europe - as well as a remarkable collection of historical keyboard instruments for the historically informed reproduction of early music. UMS 'n JIP is one of the most active ensembles for contemporary new music, with guest performances at the Venice Biennale, the Liceu Barcelona, the Colón Buenos Aires and the Shanghai New Music Week, and has been awarded over 30 international prizes.

At Mebu, they will next give concerts by the Ars Electronica Forum Wallis Selection 2022/23 with acousmatic music: on March 10, 11 and 12, 2023 as part of the Festival for New Music Forum Valais.

When was the last time I heard such intimate music? The loving togetherness is, as it were, the prerequisite for most of the pieces on this CD, because the composer often writes for the cellist with whom he has shared his life for a long time, Roland Moser writes for Käthi Gohl Moser.

However, there is nothing representative or wanting to be representative about it, no sound photo album. Rather, two people give us an insight, Einhorch into their musical dialog. Gladly in two voices, whereby the cello solo becomes a duo. Here together with the violin of Helena Winkelman, there together with the recorder player Conrad Steinmann, the oboist Matthias Arter or the pianist Anton Kernjak. There are also short soliloquies in which Gohl sings and hums to the cello. There are other guests around him, composers such as Schubert or Offenbach, poets such as James Joyce, Paul Éluard or Arthur Rimbaud, sometimes well hidden, sometimes obvious. Moser's music loves allusion, she likes to deal with words, thoughtfully and carefully, without haste. She subtly begins to sing from time to time, with romantic sentiment, even subtle, yearning devotion. And in ... like a waltz on glass ... the cello dances "intricately simple" in the harmonics, as Roman Brotbeck writes in his beautiful booklet text. Other pieces lead onto the borderline paths of microtones.

As short as most of the pieces are, each has its own character. Only one composition from 1998 is given greater weight here, which can be heard in two versions: first in the newer version for violin and cello, and at the end in the original version with oboe d'amore and cello. ... e torna l'aria della sera... is based on an inaudible ballata by Pier Paolo Pasolini and also changes character slightly with the instrumentation. Sometimes this evening song sounds Arcadian, sometimes almost Tristan-like. It moves freely and persistently, yet without stubbornness, and in doing so it escapes any all-too-common pressure to innovate. The music breathes naturally in these interpretations.

Roland Moser: Violoncello solo e in duo. Käthi Gohl Moser, cello; Anton Kernjak, piano; Helena Winkelman, violin; Conrad Steinmann, flute, aulos; Matthias Arter, oboe d'amore. Olinard Records

Even many professional musicians are unaware that the BWV numbers used to identify Bach's compositions date back to the Bach year 1950. At the time, Wolfgang Schmieder classified Johann Sebastian Bach's works by genre and assigned the numbers according to the order of the individual pieces in the old Bach edition (1851-1899). Schmieder's epoch-making achievement was updated in 1990. As early as 1998, Bach researchers Alfred Dürr and Yoshitake Kobayashi presented their condensed alternative.

A lot has happened in Bach research since then: new sources have emerged, doubts about authenticity have been raised or dispelled, dates have been confirmed or corrected, and so on. The Bach literature has grown immeasurably, and the Internet provides full texts, bibliographies and even original prints and manuscripts. A newly revised and updated BWV could no longer be produced by a single person; an entire institute, the Bach Archive Leipzig, stood behind the three main authors, and the work took more than ten years. The result is an 880-page volume that still follows Schmieder's genre categories, adopts the long-established numbers and places newly discovered works in consecutive order where they belong according to their function and instrumentation. Also new are a systematic overview of Bach's entire oeuvre, which does not consistently follow the BWV numbers, and various concordances and catalogs, for example of Bach's (reconstructable) music library. A new feature of this index is the division into different versions of a single work. The work history of the cantata is thus divided into Swing joyfully upwards into stages 36.1 to 36.5, and the two versions of cantata 82 for bass and soprano respectively are designated 82.1 and 82.2. This is intended to put a stop to the uncontrolled growth of the addition of a, b and r designations to BWV numbers.

This procedure reaches its limits when certain purely written "Brandenburg" concertos are to be designated as BWV 1046.2, for example, because an early version 1046.1 exists for them, while for others a four-digit number simply applies, such as BWV 1047. What has been completely omitted are the references to individual works, as the online catalogs are now able to step in here. Nevertheless, the scarcity of explanations worth knowing goes so far that in more complicated and therefore also more interesting cases, detailed knowledge is required to be able to understand them at all. It is doubtful whether any progress has been made in terms of user-friendliness. It is not clear how the "integration with the relevant online databases" announced in the publisher's advertising has been achieved.

So this BWV also remains³ In view of its purchase price, it is probably a matter for a few specialists, while practitioners today can easily identify the works with the help of the Internet or the usual editions of works.

Christine Blanken, Christoph Wolff, Peter Wollny: Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis. Third, expanded new edition (BWV³), XLIV + 835 p., € 459.00, Breitkopf & Härtel, Wiesbaden 2022, ISBN 978-3-7651-0400-8

Hans Georg Nägeli (1773-1836) is regarded as a the Swiss singing father. The music world has been confronted with this idea for almost two centuries. The dubiously patriotic attribute was given to him by the Swiss singing associations, creating an image of the bustling Nägeli that does not stand up to serious scrutiny. For many years, people have been waiting for a biography, for a correction to this one-sided, untruthful portrayal of the "pioneer in all alleys".

As part of a National Science Foundation project, the young musicologist Miriam Roner has taken on the almost impossible task of shedding light on the darkness. Her dissertation, which was accepted by the University of Bern in 2016, has now been thoroughly revised and published as a book of over four hundred pages. After just a short read, it becomes clear what a mammoth task lies behind it, because apart from a few lexical articles and commemorative publications, nothing comprehensive exists on Nägeli.

Roner does not present a biography, but it shows impressively how many weddings Nägeli danced at: He was a publisher, ran a music (lending) library, composed popular music, founded and ran a singing institute that was intended to contribute to education according to Pestalozzian rules and also gave girls and women a chance to participate.

This diversity alone shows how comprehensively Nägeli thought. Roner tries to unravel how the "Nägeli system" worked in this thicket. Around 1800, there were no distribution channels, no banks through which payments could be processed. Nägeli therefore developed various procedures: he sold sheet music from French or German publishers as a countertrade for the acceptance of his own works, he ordered scores for sale, as a commission publisher or on a loan basis in order to lend them on to citizens.

Nägeli never received comprehensive training as a musician, composer or businessman. In addition to the Napoleonic wars, it was probably due to this circumstance that he inspired much, but also failed - his publishing house went bankrupt and he sold it to Adolf Hug. The Hug publishing house was born.

Nevertheless, the pioneer Nägeli achieved impressive things, as Roner points out. In the field of education, he systematically introduced young people to music with cleverly structured textbooks, also taking into account the lower classes. It is also often forgotten that Nägeli paid just as much attention to women as he did to men.

The most interesting parts of Roner's research are the second part, which is dedicated to "Nägeli as a music dealer and music publisher", and the third part on the "Sing-Institut". The extensive appendix with a detailed chronicle and a comprehensive index of sources is invaluable. The foundations have been laid for further research and revitalization of this pioneer.

Miriam Roner: Autonomous art as social practice. Hans Georg Nägeli's Theory of Music, 427 p., € 73.00, Franz-Steiner-Verlag, Stuttgart 2020, ISBN 978-3-515-12701-1

The Belgian violinist Eugène Ysaÿe (1858-1931), first a pupil of his father, won a prize at the age of nine, studied with Wieniawski in Brussels and Vieuxtemps in Paris and played Beethoven's C minor Sonata with Clara Schumann on his first concert tour in Germany in 1878. In 1882, Anton Rubinstein took him on a tour to Russia and Norway. At his wedding feast with the singer Louise Bourdeau, he played the sonata by César Franck dedicated to him, then moved to Brussels as a professor, where he taught until 1898 (famous pupils: Gingold, Primrose, Persinger). During the First World War, he lived in London, later in the USA, before finally returning to Brussels, where he worked as a conductor, teacher and concert manager until his death.

Throughout his life, he used composing as a source of energy and a refuge. His most important legacy are the six solo sonatas op. 27, composed in 1923. This booklet sheds light on the works from 1882 to 1905, written at his various places of activity. It demonstrates his stupendous, spiritualized virtuosity. Of the eight printed works, the Légende norvégienne a worthwhile first publication. The foreword by Marie Cornaz (d/f/e) tells the exciting story of the pieces. In the detailed notes (d/e), the Japanese violinist Ray Iwazumi, who teaches at the Juilliard School and specializes in Ysaÿe's musicology, offers his help. Unusual: in the violin part, Ysaÿe's original fingerings and line markings are printed in black, Iwazumi's in gray.

Eugène Ysaÿe: Poème élégiaque op. 12 and other works for violin and piano, edited by Ray Iwazumi, HN 1201, € 42.00, G. Henle, Munich  

On her debut Struggle or play (2007), Five on Fire focused on easily digestible jazz with funk interjections. Six years later, however, the formation around Daniel Gubelmann reinvented itself and began collaborating with a string quartet. For the latest album Eternal movement this approach was developed further and a large string ensemble from the Musikkollegium Winterthur was used.

Gubelmann's aim was to combine jazz with classical music and improvisation, searching for powerful melodies and the greatest possible expressiveness. The musician and composer, who trained in Bern, Zurich and Buenos Aires and is known in particular for his lyrical saxophone playing, allows his jazz quartet to play on an equal footing with the string orchestra. The result is an almost symbiotic sound that ignores genre boundaries.

The title of the record, "Ewigkeit der Bewegung" (Eternity of Movement), suggests that the project does not stand for understatement, on the contrary. Accordingly, what is on offer is impressive and full of drama. Whereby the prelude, the delicate Preludio de Buenos Aireswhich is entirely the responsibility of the string orchestra, is surprisingly restrained at first. This is followed by El rio de las estrellaswhich is characterized by a sublime conversation between saxophone and piano and features melancholy timbres. With La flor del amor Gubelmann's flair for the tango finally makes itself felt - with great passion and sometimes furious rhythms.

According to Gubelmann, his eight compositions claim to be able to manage without pictures. Nevertheless Eternal movement a cinematic suite that references Astor Piazzolla, Stan Getz and John Coltrane, among others. The result is an album that is as daring as it is eloquent, that goes its own way and knows how to impress.

Five on Fire feat. Musikkollegium Winterthur: Eternal movement. Solo Musica SM407

As editor for New Music at Südfunk Stuttgart and founder and director of the Schola Cantorum Stuttgart, he was in productive exchange with his contemporaries Pierre Boulez, Mauricio Kagel, György Ligeti, Luigi Nono, Karlheinz Stockhausen and many others who founded New Music. With his Schola Cantorum, a 16-voice chamber vocal ensemble, Gottwald played a decisive role in shaping the a cappella choral culture at the highest technical level that is taken for granted today. His transcriptions of piano songs or instrumental pieces for polyphonic a cappella choir, which set the highest musical standards in a style inspired by Ligeti, are appreciated by choirs all over the world.

Clytus Gottwald has received several awards for his achievements, including the Baden-Württemberg Culture Prize in 2009, the European Church Music Prize in 2012 and the Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2014. His importance for the development of contemporary choral music cannot be overestimated.

With Clytus Gottwald, the Carus publishing house one of its most important authors.

After numerous new editions as well as recordings of symphonies and chamber music from her pen have appeared in recent years, the composer Emilie Mayer (1812-1883) is probably no longer completely unknown. Of course, this should also be seen as a sign of the times: Although the musical estate was already accessible to the public in the 20th century at the best location (Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin), interest remained rather low at the time. Today, of course, there is unnecessary exuberance in many a sensational headline such as "The female Beethoven" (NDR) - or in the subtitle of the newly published biography of Barbara Beuys: "Europe's greatest female composer". What constitutes this "greatness" is open to debate: Is it the size of her oeuvre? Or is it the focus of her work, which lies on such important genres as the string quartet and symphony? And how should these works be classified in relation to those of Louise Farrenc?

Questions that Barbara Beuys does not answer, but which are not her focus at all. In her "Search for Traces", she recounts Emilie Mayer's life and the performances of her works with numerous historical and cultural-historical embeddings. This overarching view is perhaps the strength of the account; as far as the actual dates and details are concerned, the author relies primarily on the extensive research undertaken by Almut Runge-Woll for her dissertation on this extraordinary Loewe pupil, which was published in 2003. Even if the target audience of the current biography may not lie solely in the realm of interested music lovers, it is nevertheless surprising that there is no rudimentary characterization of Emilie Mayer's compositional output, nor even a summary list of her works. On the other hand, there are redundancies ("Ehefessel", pp. 52 and 195), inaccuracies ("Streichquartett" instead of Streichquintett, p. 138) and sometimes overly casual formulations: "Trombones and string instruments - wasn't there something?" And so this portrait is more of a further installment in the series of cultural-historical biographies of the author, without any "musical" search for clues.

Barbara Beuys: Emilie Mayer, Europe's greatest composer. A search for traces, 220 p., € 22.00, Dittrich, Weilerswist-Metternich 2021, ISBN 978-3-947373-69-7

Viola von Scarpatetti's artistic streak began to emerge at an early age: She attended a circus school as a child and later studied at the European Film Actor School in Zurich. She has long since established herself with her work in front of the camera - thanks to her leading role in the comedy 20 rules for Sylvie (2014) -, the actress, who grew up in Fribourg and France, now wants to devote herself to another art form, the chanson.

The 34-year-old's debut album, Fais un pont, is all about her own experiences and emotions. It is also fitting that she created the slightly melancholy title song as a teenager - originally as a rap. Today, her music combines folk with Francophone chanson and pop. Consequently, only the concluding Hong Kong with English instead of French lyrics.

What makes the record stand out is its lightness. This also manifests itself in the restrained production, which is not aiming for perfection but for coherence. This succeeds and means that the cicadas chirping during the recordings in the south of France can also be heard on the release. While Laisser danser with seemingly thrown away guitar licks and a short whistled melody and indulges in memories, turns Momo's chanson about Michael Ende's novel character and uses soft accordion sounds and gentle wind passages.

Other tracks such as the elegiac Marin, the playful whirling Voyage dans le désert or the sparsely arranged Je te sens make it clear that Viola von Scarpatetti's material is designed to provide lasting moments of relaxation. She has succeeded in creating twelve sound gems that dispense with pomp and pageantry and instead captivate with charm and restrained elegance.

Viola von Scarpatetti: "Fais un pont" (self-distribution) www.violavonscarpatetti.com

It is called the "Sellière", was built by Antonio Stradivari in 1680 and was played by the legendary Wolfgang Schneiderhan, co-founder of the Festival Strings Lucerne, from 1934 until the end of the 1970s. The fine instrument then disappeared into the owners' bank safe until 2019. Since then, it has been on permanent loan to the Festival Strings and Daniel Dodds.

Dodds is now using this "gift from heaven" for a recording, recorded at the KKL Lucerne. Remarkably, the makers of the program did not opt for violin concertos, but chose Mozart's Haffner Serenadewhich is described in the CD booklet with a great deal of understatement as "almost forgotten". Just think of concerts with Ton Koopman or Thomas Zehetmair, to name but two.

Be that as it may, it is a wise choice, as this serenade not only showcases the violin in numerous solos, but also gives the Festival Strings ample opportunity to demonstrate their art. The result is more than worth listening to, even if the tempi sometimes take some getting used to.

The playing is almost always vibrato-less, gripping and fast. One cannot shake off the suspicion that the interpretations of the above-mentioned conductors served as a model to set themselves apart. Of course, Dodds can shine with virtuoso solos in his "Sellière", for example in the Rondo. However, the rather slow, melting movements are unfortunately somewhat "rushed"; a minuet is, after all, a shouting dance. However, Mozart's Serenade is also the Festival Strings' best entertainment music, which is a pleasure to listen to.

The world premiere recording of a work by Vincenzo Righini (1756-1812) at the end is somewhat ambivalent. The almost six-minute ballet music from Gerusalemme liberata is composed for bassoon, horn, violoncello and solo violin, resulting in idiosyncratic instrumental colors. In itself an exciting new discovery, but after the Haffner Serenade lost something.

Mozart: Haffner Serenade. Festival Strings Lucerne, Daniel Dodds, violin & direction, Sony Classical 0196587250621