Swiss bands have traditionally had a hard time rocking out and producing catchy tunes as well as being dynamic. The Zurich quartet Annie Taylor - named after the 63-year-old teacher who was the first to plunge down Niagara Falls in a barrel in 1901 and survive the adventure - has no such problems. In terms of instrumental expertise, Gini Jungi (vocals, guitar), Tobias Arn (guitar), Michael Mutter (bass) and drummer Daniel Bachmann, who recently joined the band from Winterthur post-Krautrockers Klaus Johann Grobe, could certainly also serve up virtuoso neo-progressive rock. Thank God they don't want to do that. Instead, on their second album they have remained true to the organic blend of post-grunge, garage and pop rock that made their debut three years ago so lively. Sweet Mortality scratched the Swiss album charts at the time and earned the band a long series of national and international festival appearances. The self-confidence gained in this way oozes from every groove of Inner Smile.

For the recordings, they moved to Bristol, where they spent the days in the studio of producer Ali Chant, who has also worked with PJ Harvey, Yard Act, Katy J Pearson (a favorite of Jungi) and Aldous Harding. At night, they retreated to the villa and honed the ideas of the past few hours. The sound has become much more versatile. Boisterously rumbling pop-punk numbers (Schoolgirl) are contrasted by catchy songs in which the loud/quiet dynamic developed by the Pixies is skillfully applied (Push Me). Ride High is Californian "sunshine pop", so to speak, even Fucking Upset finds room for a few thoughtful moments, and Sister lives not least from the glorious bass riff. The gifted singer, songwriter and frontwoman Jungi dominates the proceedings with aplomb. Conclusion: a terrific live band, skillfully preserved on vinyl.

Annie Taylor: Inner Smile. Cab Gauche Records TGR 037 (Vinyl)

Children often react surprisingly positively to country music. It is therefore all the more regrettable that there is hardly any beginner's literature available for teaching. Müliradverlag in Altdorf wants to remedy this situation with a new series, which is being launched with two booklets. Marion Suter and Claudio Gmür, two luminaries of the country piano from two different generations - Suter was a student of Gmür's for a long time - are each presenting a booklet with 16 simple dance pieces. Suter's compositions are original, Gmür's are half original pieces and half arrangements of classics of the genre.

The pieces are easy and enjoyable to play and at the same time convey the formal and harmonic basics of Swiss folk dance music. The new compositions follow the traditional patterns and sequences and yet are original and witty. It is clear to see that the author is very familiar with the subject matter. The most important forms - ländler, waltz, polka, schottisch as well as a mazurka in the case of Suter and a ländler fox in the case of Gmür - are presented in a simple and exemplary manner.

If this is too simple for you, you can use the two booklets as a basis to venture into the variation and ornamentation practice of Ländler music and, in the spirit of the old tradition, change and expand the pieces to suit your own taste. The booklets are therefore a worthwhile introduction to Swiss folk music not only for beginners, but also for more experienced people from other genres.

Swiss country music for piano,

Vol. 1: 16 new compositions by Marion Suter, No.1211;

Vol. 2: Eine Tasten-Bike-Tour, 16 new and traditional dances composed and arranged by Claudio Gmür, No. 1212;

Fr. 25.00 each, Mülirad, Altdorf 2021

Anyone who teaches music like a trainer is successful. That's not to say that music is sport, but in Ulrich Menke's Method navigation sports medicine and sports psychology aspects help to achieve positive results more quickly. The concept of practicing is supplemented by the concept of training. By alternating the use of all the senses, the brain can really get into shape: Kurzweil makes you forget about "practice time" and leads to flow. The teacher responds to the pupils more with questions than with criticism and thus helps them to develop more independent working skills.

In 18 chapters illustrated with instructive music examples from the violin literature, you are given a wide range of assignments to fan out the difficulties. Here is a selection:

1st warm-up, starting with the body: posture, muscle and finger sensitivity, self-observation in the mirror.

2. practice a new piece flawlessly right from the start thanks to Slow Motion; first introduce, then play.

3. looping: incorporate breathing pauses in difficult sequences and repeat the sequence parts; simplify large jumps as sound swings and listen to them and feel; in the case of double holds, determine the guide finger whose path is easiest to execute and remember; isolate error triggers and consolidate with loop.

4. time-out: extend fast passages with dotted rhythms or repeated notes.

5. supervision: Observe yourself playing in turn with different senses.

7. rhythm is it! Play rhythmically difficult passages on one note or on a scale first; play the string change movement of the bow of a multi-string passage on the empty strings first; find the optimum bow hand curve for tied passages.

8. place accents: In a passage that runs evenly, place accents on the second note in groups of four sixteenths, for example, and on the third and fourth notes in the repetitions, or even on every third note (against the meter) of the passage. In this way, every note comes into focus once.

9. self-coaching: like a reporter, you look at your "inner team's" performance and assess what needs to be improved. Focus on a finger that is too weak, a tone that is not expressive, a change of position that happens too late; "look at the scenic layout of playing situations".

10. playing away. Acquire confidence: playing the passage on other strings, in other positions, walking, back to back in an ensemble.

11. mixing desk. Trying out different dynamic variations of a passage (searching with crescendo and decrescendo for the right emphasis) leads to a more conscious understanding of the composition.

12. happy ending. If you place a fermata on a problem note and experience it more consciously, it loses the aspect of the "point of fear".

13. call - recall: singing a passage - repeat with playing. Call - Response: Singing a musical question - playing the answer. This makes it clear more quickly how a passage should be musically arranged.

Finally 18th performance! Here we explain how stage fright and fear of failure can be avoided, but also how musical flow can be encouraged.

In a concluding explanatory section, the importance of mindfulness, skillful coaching, mental training, a new relationship between teachers and learners and the training ground as a place of well-being is explained in detail. All in all, a valuable treasure trove of ideas!

Ulrich Menke: Das Methoden-Navi, Routenplaner zu einem erfolgreichen Instrumental- und Ensembleunterricht, 192 p., € 22.95, Schott, Mainz 2023, ISBN 978-3-7957-3092-5

Rümlingen was on the road again at the end of July. After the Lower Engadine in 2019 and Appenzell in 2021, the festival now explored a particularly attractive part of Ticino. The starting point was the former dropout paradise Monte Verità above Ascona. Then it was off on a hike to Valle Onsernone, the little Arcadia of the Swiss-German cultural bourgeoisie, and by boat to the subtropical Brissago Islands, always with compositions, sound installations and other acoustic performances carefully adapted to the landscape in their luggage - sometimes as a well-structured concert, sometimes in the manner of wonder bags for the sonic refreshment of the hiking public.

With its summer festivals, the Neue Musik Rümlingen association, which has been in existence since 1990, consistently takes a side path through the bushes that line the avant-garde mainstream. The handful of media people, composers and music mediators from Germany and Switzerland are well connected musically in both countries and can also rely on the interest of friendly sponsors. Clever institutional cooperation makes it possible to keep costs low. Local partners in Ticino were the Associazione Olocene (named after the story written by Max Frisch in the Onsernone Valley Man appears in the Holocene) and the Teatro del Tempo. The composer and festival founder Daniel Ott As a true Swiss, he also has a good knowledge of the country and a flair for the marginal.

Ticino, the end of the world?

"Finisterre", the end of the world, was the associative motto of the five-day event. As an expression of a romantic yearning for nature, this made perfect sense, and it was also fitting for the remote Onsernone, which is marked by migration. However, as is well known, the limit of perception, the "end of the world", always coincides with one's own horizon. And this now apparently only just reached as far as Lake Maggiore. To associate the tourist hotspots of Ascona and Brissago and industrialized Ticino in general, with its more than eighty thousand Italian commuters every day, with the idea of the end of the world is somewhat naive. In the program book, the organizers undertook all sorts of ideological pull-ups, apparently inspired by the genius loci of Monte Verità. Cloudy speculation about other realities was combined with tourist longings from a Nordic perspective and a touch of cultural colonialism along the lines of "Now we're exporting our avant-garde to the musically fallow south".

Aside from such conceptual contradictions, the undertaking was definitely a success. Everyone was satisfied, the artists, the organizers and the audience. This consisted of a crowd of loyal festival fans who were enjoying a few days of adventure vacation, curious day tourists and a few business professionals; there were few locals. They were one big family, surrendering to the magic of the landscape and curiously following the sound events placed in it. Of course, this was not possible without personal contribution. For example, three hours of hiking were planned for the Onsernone day, and those who were not good on their feet had to pass. Thanks to the secure financial cushion, the festival can afford the luxury of small numbers of participants. The concert on Brissago Island was subject to a numerus clausus due to the small number of passengers on the ship.

Focus on Monte Verità

"Rümlingen" is an experience festival; it is less about the artistic excellence of what is on offer and more about its unconventional perception and also about a more intensive self-perception. So with the group Trickster-pwhich didn't offer any sounds, just lottery tickets with the instruction: "Choose a sound to play in your head. Play it with the following accompaniment: Forest in spring at 5.00 am." The conceptualist gag was part of the opening day on Monte Verità. A similar silent movie experience was provided by the installation Graces by Lukas Berchtold, in which a female dancer moved in circles to paper garlands gently unfurling from above.

There was an intervention with a cultural-critical punchline in the Elisarium can be seen. The inside of this temple-like circular building is populated all around with naked boys, which the Baltic aristocrat Elisar von Kupffer painted on the wall in a paradisiacal pose in the 1930s. The Norwegian Trond Reinholdtsen - a gifted ironist who attracted attention in Darmstadt in 2014 with the beautiful phrase "O old sick Europe, I love you!" - provided a gaudy counterpoint to this slightly stale homoeroticism with a video in which he lets his well-known, brightly colored trolls crawl around and declaims cheerful pseudo-philosophical nonsense.

The forest beckons the eavesdroppers

In the extensive, hilly terrain, you could spend a day exploring the unknown, the surprising and sometimes quite incidental. On the Valkyrie rock - a name coined by the founders of Monte Verità - a singer, backed by electronics, sounded out the surroundings with a Laurie Anderson-Verschnitt. Somewhere in the bushes stood a lonely vibraphone, on the music stand "Der kranke Mond" from Schönberg's Pierrot lunaire.

In a clearing in the forest, there were a few deckchairs for walkers to sit on. Then, at a certain time of day, the scene suddenly came to life. Students from the Conservatorio Lugano stood behind the relaxed recliners with their instruments and gave them a gentle sound massage with soft tones and noises. And when the branches of the surrounding trees began to sway at a secret command, accompanied by the sound of distant bells, it was as if the enchanted forest was peacefully beckoning to the people. The trees from Manos Tsangaris The precisely timed, subtle sound situation was one of the best of the day.

The venture was worthwhile to bring the two composers out of the shadows of politics, the English composer Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) in the time of the decline of a world empire, and the Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) in the terrifying Soviet era. Their acquaintance, which came about rather by chance in 1960 and developed into a friendship across the almost insurmountable border of the Cold War, is portrayed in the most diverse facets of artistic and human relationships. Despite all the adversity, they were able to meet six times, both in Aldeburgh and Moscow and on their joint trip to Armenia (summer 1965).

The author endeavors to incorporate major political events such as the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Warsaw Pact states in 1968 and the heated discussion in Great Britain about the 1972 festival of Soviet music into the debates about the development of New Music, without neglecting the focus on the two artists as threatened existences. For from this point of view, they were judged as composers in a completely controversial manner before and after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the discussions in East and West continue unabated today, as both could hardly ever be counted among the avant-garde and their works were therefore often judged and condemned below their worth.

An overabundance of quotations from English and Russian sources - listed in well over a thousand annotations - often replace an opinion expected from the author. His primary concern, however, is not to reassess the works, but to shed new light on the sometimes comparably difficult circumstances under which the works were composed. Since both composers had to deal with the political events and thus often, but not always, became unintentionally involved, this required extensive research into their private lives. The "Changing Meanings of Values and Words" or details of the cultural exchange agreement between Great Britain and the USSR in 1959 go far beyond this, but often provide an insight into forgotten events during the Cold War.

However, such overviews harbor the danger that the geopolitical aspects, understood from a narrow cultural perspective, do not always stand up to an overall historical assessment. On the other hand, it is commendable that the author also attempts to shed light on the problematic aspects of the individualists who were forced into outsider roles.

Meinhard Saremba: Keeping the cultural door open. Britten and Shostakovich. Eine Künstlerfreundschaft im Schatten der Politik, 518 p., € 28.00, Osburg-Verlag Hamburg, Eimsbüttel 2022, ISBN 978-3-95510-295-1

It seems almost impossible to summarize an era like the 18th century, which is not really an era at all, in one book. The political, ideological, artistic and musical arc it covers is too broad. Elisabeth Schmierer - who researches and teaches at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen - therefore does not focus on individual personalities, but rather follows the developments of various genres, which she in turn illuminates against the respective social background. How did church music develop during the Enlightenment and the emergence of the concert business? How does the song appear in front of the "mirror of bourgeois musical culture"? Above all, again and again: where does music theater stand? This is highly informative because Schmierer also compiles a wealth of material on side areas such as ballet pantomime or program music.

Sometimes almost a little too much, so that one is in danger of losing the overview while reading. The absence of footnotes (instead there are lots of brackets) makes the text even less easy to read. There are almost no pictures or musical examples. Although a glossary in the appendix explains the most important terms, this does not prevent the book from being rather unclear.

I will pick out a favorite example, the Passion poem by the Hamburg writer and city councillor Barthold Heinrich Brockes, which was set to music by some of the most important composers such as Handel, Telemann and Stölzel, and which Bach also used. These names and a few more are mentioned, as well as the fact that Brockes reintroduced the Gospel text into the Passion Oratorio, albeit with a few rhymes. And that is all. Nothing about the highly individual and exciting solutions to which the highly expressive text inspired the musicians. No, the enumeration continues at breakneck speed.

Ultimately, the volume, which features three women making music on the cover, cements the impression that female composing played no role at all in that era. Only Élisabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre appears as a female composer. Juliane Reichardt is missing, as is Madame de Montgéroult, who was one of the first female teachers at the Paris Conservatoire. Despite such omissions, the volume provides a good overview and is certainly useful for all those who teach music history and would like to link it within a wider framework.
Elisabeth Schmierer: The music of the 18th century, 345 p., € 32.80, Laaber, Lilienthal 2022, ISBN 978-3-89007-858-8

The author of this podcast, Matthias Droll, is himself a versatile musician: after studying classical percussion and elementary music education, he completed a jazz master's degree and plays in a trio that makes electronic music. He also climbs. He would also like to make his future professional life versatile. That is why he is trying to explore versatility. As part of his master's thesis at Bern University of the Arts, he has now created a series of acoustic portraits that can be listened to online. In x-voiced he talks to musicians who play several instruments, in several genres, in several roles, from performer to university lecturer, and who are also often active in sport or in organizations. He asks them how they came to this multitude of activities, starting in childhood, and wants to know whether they ever had to give up areas of interest, how they had to decide how to reconcile everything and how they managed to find creative phases in this diversity.

Listening to the contributions, which are between 39 minutes and just over an hour long, there is a pleasant tension between the calmly conducted conversation, which also has time for follow-up questions and longer explanations, and the sometimes dizzying amount of activities to which the interviewees devote themselves. Is this patient and careful approach one of the answers? However, it is not really a question of how different activities can be managed alongside one another, but whether and how they are mutually beneficial.

Anyone who has questions about their own versatility or simply wants an insight into the lives of inspiring musicians (although - in keeping with the versatility - you can also prepare vegetables or do the washing up) should listen in. There are nine episodes so far, with more to follow in the fall.

x-stimmig - (not) only music

Despite her long and successful international career, Corin Curschellas has remained surprisingly unknown in Switzerland; she was probably always too idiosyncratic and unwieldy for the local mass taste. Moreover, she never sought public attention herself; music was always more important to her than success. The grande dame of the Swiss music scene is now celebrating her 50 years on stage with a box set that will be of interest not only to old fans but also to a new audience. Compact discs may already be a historical format, but the beautifully designed cardboard box with four CDs and two books is a fascinating object that goes beyond the music. CDs still make sense because the box contains a lot of information worth reading: all the song lyrics, the Rhaeto-Romanic ones even with translation, the performers and lyricists involved, a complete discography and short texts by Corin, companions and companions who provide coherent impressions of the person and the work. The books have an extremely attractive graphic design and are supplemented with a wealth of photographic material. This alone is worth the purchase.

The sixty tracks on the four CDs come from Curschella's solo albums from 1990 to 2010, supplemented by new recordings from 2022. Fortunately, the old albums have not simply been reissued, but the songs have been very carefully selected and put together in a new order. As a result, they appear in a different context and, even if you already know them, you suddenly hear them in a completely new way. Two things come to the fore here: on the one hand, the linguistic and musical versatility of the creator. The lyrics are written in Rumantsch, dialect, German, English and French and Corin can sing in all languages. On the other hand, her life's journey is beautifully reflected in the recording locations: from Graubünden to Zurich, Berlin, Vienna, Paris, London, New York and back to the Surselva.

Another characteristic of Curschella's work is her gift for networking with the best people, whether for the lyrics or for the recordings. The list of lyricists and musicians is impressive: in Switzerland - among many others - Heiri Känzig, Christy Doran, Max Lässer or Co Streiff, in Vienna the Vienna Art Orchestra with Mathias Rüegg, in Paris Noël Akchoté and Steve Argüelles, in New York Marc Ribot, Robert Quine, J. T. Lewis or Greg Cohen, all renowned greats in their field. Stylistically, the pieces oscillate between jazz, experimental, world music and chanson. However, Curschellas does not lose herself in this incredible versatility, but always manages to give her songs a very unique and personal touch.

Over the past 15 years, Corin has mainly focused on Rhaeto-Romanic folk song, which has been very well received by audiences and the press. It has been somewhat forgotten that she has also had a great international career and brought Switzerland to the world - and the world back to Switzerland. This wonderful box clearly demonstrates this.Corin Curschellas: Collecziuns 1990-2010 + 2022 Her Songs, Tourbo Music TOURBO068

It is always a pleasure to come across CDs with compositions whose existence was only known from catalogs or encyclopedias. One such recording is Quintettes suisses with two world premieres by Gustave Doret and Fritz Bach for piano and string quartet as well as a work for string quintet by the young Frank Martin, which lovers of opulent late romantic chamber music will enjoy listening to. These pieces will be performed by the Melos Ensemble Vienna and the Italian pianist Adalberto Maria Riva, who works in western Switzerland. One of the cellists in the Vienna ensemble is Christophe Pantillon, who comes from a well-known Swiss family of musicians. The interpretations of all three works are outstanding, inspired, spirited and beautiful in sound. Special praise is due to the pianist, who plays an extremely prominent and demanding role in the two piano quintets.

Doret's quintet was written in 1925 at the suggestion of the famous Polish pianist, composer and politician Ignacy Paderewski. Gustave Doret (1866-1943) is not an unknown composer, but his fame is based more on his stage music for the Théâtre du Jorat in Mézières in Vaud, the music for two Fêtes des Vignerons and his rich song oeuvre. Born in Aigle, Doret first studied with Joseph Joachim in Berlin, then in Paris with Jules Massenet and Théodore Dubois. In 1894, he conducted Debussy's early masterpiece Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune from the baptism. However, his own music is more influenced by Fauré than Impressionism.

Composed somewhat earlier, namely in 1918, the Poem by Fritz Bach (1881-1930), actually Frédéric Henri Bach, who was born in Paris, completed his schooling and theological studies in Lausanne before studying composition in the French capital with Charles Widor and Vincent d'Indy and organ with Alexandre Guilmant and Louis Vierne. Back in Switzerland, he taught in several towns around Lake Geneva and composed mainly sacred music. In a way, one could even include his almost 40-minute piano quintet: In five movements (Jeunesse; Amour; Bonheur; Douleurs, Tristesses; Luttes), it depicts an entire human life with its ups and downs. Psalm 130 appears first in the last movement (From the depths I call to you, Lord), before the chorale What God does is well done brings life to a conciliatory close. Musically, all this is realized with relatively simple but convincing means, stylistically influenced by French late Romanticism.

As Jacques Tchamkerten rightly notes in his knowledgeable booklet text, Frank Martin's Pavane couleur du temps (1920) from Ravel's Ma Mère l'Oye and inspired by the enthusiasm for the France of Louis XIV. The title refers to Charles Perrault's fairy tale Peau d'ânewhich we call Allerleirauh know. Little or nothing of Martin's mature style is yet recognizable, but it is certainly a first sample of talent that goes very well with the two piano quintets.

Quintettes suisses. Œuvres de Gustave Doret, Frank Martin, Fritz Bach. Melos Ensemble de Vienne; Adalberto Maria Riva, piano. Harmonia Helvetica, Cascavelle VEL 1677

On its latest CD for Pentatone, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande presents a successful compilation of works of classical modernism, whereby not only the selection but also the order of the recording is convincing. First up is Maurice Ravel's famous Piano Concerto in G major from 1931, followed by Olivier Messiaen's Oiseaux exotiques The "trilogy" concludes with Schönberg's Piano Concerto op. 42 from 1942.

Under the direction of its chief conductor Jonathan Nott, the orchestra plays with great precision and versatility. In Schönberg's Piano Concerto, with its hidden autobiographical program, the four parts of the formal one-movement work are clearly audible: one example is the expressive gesture of the second section, which leads abruptly and movingly into the sombre and tragic third section, a kind of funeral march. However, the orchestra also has a first-class pianist at its side, Francesco Piemontesi, who has an excellent command of Schönberg's tonal language in terms of touch and interpretation.

Somewhat less convincing are the Oiseaux exotiques turned out. The orchestra sometimes "chirps" a little too pompously, which is already announced at the beginning with the first two horn calls of the Indian Maina and reaches its climax in the large tutti of the main section. Piemontesi does, however, provide relaxation and finesse.

If the works by Schönberg and Messiaen are completely tailored to Jonathan Nott's style of interpretation, Ravel's witty and varied piano concerto raises a few question marks. The first movement with its jazz overtones lacks a bit of sparkling esprit and the second the French lightness. The Presto, on the other hand, is highly concise and virtuosically played by Piemontesi, an ideal lead-in to Messiaen's exotic birds.

Schoenberg, Messiaen, Ravel. Francesco Piemontesi, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Jonathan Nott. Pentatone PTC 5186 949

The German musician and composer Heinz Bethmann has arranged three ragtimes from the early years of the 20th century for clarinet and piano for this edition published by Uetz. The most famous one, 12^th Street Ragwas written by Euday Bowman (1886-1949), the descendant of a German immigrant family called Baumann, who lived in Texas. Bowman earned his living mainly as a pianist in bars and nightclubs. The 12^th Street Rag was by far his most successful composition and was taken up by many bands and musicians, including Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong.

The first part of the piece consists of a repeated 3-note motif with rhythmic shifts. In the second part, there are many leaps in the solo part, and the third part again consists of a 3-note motif, this time chromatically led. The piano plays a typical stride piano accompaniment, but here divided into left and right hand, as the melody is taken over by the clarinet.

For the other two pieces, Black and White Rag and Texas Steer Rag, Euday Bowman is also named as the composer in the clarinet part. However, these two titles were written by George Botsford (1874-1949), a contemporary of Bowman, as correctly stated in the piano part.

The Black and White Rag consists almost entirely of chord breaks of different triads in the melody. This either requires a firm command of the technique or otherwise offers a good opportunity to practise triads. The piano accompaniment, meanwhile, is characterized by amusing passages in the harmony changes.

Texas Steer combines chromatic leading and passing notes with leaps and syncopated rhythms in the melody, which also requires a certain dexterity and basic rhythmic confidence when playing the clarinet. The pieces are aimed at pupils who have left the beginner stage behind them and are in the mood for cheerful and virtuoso music.Euday Bowman: Three Ragtimes for Clarinet and Piano, arranged by Heinz Bethmann, BU 6244, € 15.00, Bruno Uetz Musikverlag, Halberstadt

Born into an Indian-Swiss family, recorder player Isaac Makhdoomi not only carries two cultures in his heart, but is also at home as a musician and composer in a wide variety of styles. His Sonata per Flauto dolce arose from the need to add a piece to the solo works of the Baroque period, taking into account the feasibility of using the recorder, i.e. its instrument-specific advantages and limitations. The result is a four-movement work that is melodically reminiscent of Telemann, also of Corelli and harmonically reminiscent of Bach in places, but in which small French and English ornaments can also be found - a charming multicultural baroque sonata or suite, so to speak.Makhdoomis Catching Moments on the other hand, is a contemporary, traditionally notated composition divided into three sections and entitled "mystical, free". The beginning and end have an improvisatory character and are reminiscent of Indian flute music. Again and again, the music lingers on longer notes in order to move towards a pause or the next long note in short, fast runs or rhythmic sequences. The rhythmic, faster middle section is intended to be rhetorical, beginning with noisy and precisely notated syllables to be spoken into the flute and then discharging into multiphonics and audible finger clacking.Isaac Makhdoomi cannot be easily pigeonholed as a performer either. He has been known to television audiences since his appearance on "Switzerland's Greatest Talents" as part of the band Sangit Saathi, where he elicited funky sounds from the recorder and delighted the audience. His newly released CD with the concerti by Antonio Vivaldi shows a completely different side of the musician. The cleverly conceived and exceptionally beautifully mixed album, in which Makhdoomi juxtaposes the well-known concerti with two aria jewels, impresses not only with its powerful virtuosity, clearly contoured dynamics, exciting instrumentation in the continuo and improvisatory moments, but above all with its great individuality and longing for sound in the lyrical and richly ornamented slow movements.

Isaac Makhdoomi: Sonata per Flauto dolce, for treble recorder solo, N 2462, € 11.90, Heinrichshofen & Noetzel, Wilhelmshaven

Isaac Makhdoomi: Catching Moments, for alto recorder, EFT 3131, € 9.00, Edition Tre Fontane, Münster  

Vivaldi Concerti per flauto e Arie. Isaac Makhdoomi, recorder; Ensemble Piccante; Arnaud Gluck, countertenor. Prospero PROSP0064

Richard Strauss' song albums have been published in four volumes by Universal Edition. Each for high, medium and low voice. So far this leaves nothing to be desired. Nevertheless, the publisher has decided to publish the songs additionally in small, thin and user-friendly booklets, each containing the works of one opus number (op. 10, 19, 21, 26, 27, 29 and 32). They follow the text of the Critical Edition. Does this foreshadow a replacement for Tablet & Co?

The notebooks are light, handy, easy to transport and belong together. The only disadvantage: everything looks the same on the shelf. The titles are not printed on the plain white cardboard cover, only the opus number (which is why it looks so attractive). So you have to know: Aha, Opus 32, that was O sweet Mayor Opus 29, is true: Dream through the twilight. Otherwise a good, aesthetic, appealing thing and therefore also quite suitable for the stage.

The booklets contain English translations and are available at a low price.

Richard Strauss: Four songs for medium voice with piano accompaniment op. 27, UE 37987, € 19.95, Universal Edition, Vienna (example)

Raphael Benjamin Meyer is primarily known as a film composer (e.g. The mortician), but he is also a recorder player who studied at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis and conducts three recorder orchestras. The Swing Thing is a commissioned composition in which he is able to combine his professions, experiences and passions in a congenial way.

The Swing Thing works in both single and choral scoring. The two-part composition is in principle for five voices (SATTB) with additional optional C bass and sub-bass voices. However, these additional voices do not simply double the lowest voices of the movement, but occasionally form interesting counter-voices that lend the swinging, largely ternary composition an additional groove. The composer probably also had the different levels and realities of recorder ensembles in mind when creating the formal structure: a short introduction is followed by a longer swing section at a moderate tempo, which leads into a metrically more complicated stretta with a significantly higher level of difficulty. This is again optional; the composition can also be ended at the Fine notated in brackets at the end of the first part.

The Swing Thing enriches the repertoire with a genuine composition that is based on the qualities of the instrument and does not have to adapt an existing composition for recorders. However, Raphael Benjamin Meyer proves in arrangements (such as Mozart's famous motet Ave verum corpusHeinrichshofen & Noetzel N2687) that he also masters this craft very well and takes into account both the advantages of the instrument and the structure and beauty of sound of the composition.

Raphael Benjamin Meyer: The Swing Thing, for 5 to 7 recorders; score: N2890, € 10.00; parts available separately; Heinrichshofen & Noetzel, Wilhelmshaven

The duo Elisa Urrestarazu (saxophone) and Cornelia Lenzin (piano) performed the program of this recording in autumn 2021 in the concert series "Basel komponiert" at Museum Klingental. Lenzin has a long-standing collaboration with the recently deceased composer Jost Meier as well as with Balz Trümpy and Marcelo Nisinman. For Meier's 80th birthday in 2019, she organized a concert with chamber music by the composer. Meier then wrote the following for Lenzin and Urrestarazu Sonata (2020) for alto saxophone and piano, a piece that is well worth listening to. It opens this CD. It is followed by Meier's short, dense 4 Images for piano solo (2009) as first recordings. Balz Trümpy wrote for Elisa Urrestarazu his Introduction and Ariaoriginally for clarinet (2002-03), for alto saxophone. The interpreter shows her class to full advantage. Trümpy's dreamlike Song for soprano saxophone and piano (2020) is on. Even in Jacques Wildberger's challenging 4 Pezzi per Pianoforte (1950) and the Prismes for alto saxophone solo (1975), the musicians present themselves with aplomb. As a counterpoint, the duo was joined by Marcelo Nisinman Samuel the Wise for soprano saxophone and piano - a fun-filled listening experience.

Basel composed. Music for saxophone and piano 1951-2021. Jost Meier, Balz Trümpy, Jacques Wildberger, Marcelo Nisinman. Elisa Urrestarazu, saxophone; Cornelia Lenzin, piano. Pianoversal PV115