Effective incidental music

The Geneva musician Christophe Sturzenegger really is a versatile talent! His previous recordings as a horn player and pianist with works by Strauss, Glière and Schumann testify to his outstanding ability on both instruments. His latest CD with incidental music now presents him as a composer and conductor.

Le Colibri

The music to Le Colibri was created as a joint production with the successful writer Elisa Shua Dusapin from French-speaking Switzerland, winner of the 2019 Swiss Literature Prize. The story of two young people on their way to adulthood was commissioned by the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande (OSR) and Geneva's Théâtre Am Stram Gram, one of Europe's most important theaters for children and young people. Sturzenegger's music is neo-romantic, excellently orchestrated and a pleasure to listen to even if you don't know the plot. A graphic novel of Dusapin's work created in collaboration with the illustrator Hélène Becquelin, together with Sturzenegger's music as an audio book, received the Swiss Children's and Young People's Book Prize in 2023.

La Reine des Neiges

From the second work on the CD, La Reine des Neiges after the fairy tale The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen, written two years before the Disney blockbuster, can be heard in both a concert suite and a half-hour version with spoken text (convincingly interpreted by Joan Mompart). Andersen's fairy tale, labeled «unsuitable for children» at the time it was written but now often set to music, tells the story of the children Kay and Gerda, who are separated from each other by malicious magic, but find each other again in the castle of the Snow Queen on Spitsbergen and are redeemed.

The musical idea behind the piece was to create a work of music theater with the cast of Stravinsky's Histoire du soldat with the accompaniment of a small ensemble. The performance by the Théâtre Am Stram Gram was played countless times in Switzerland and France and received much praise. Although this recording does not replace the theater experience, it gives a vivid impression of it. The music is reminiscent of compositions by the «Groupe des Six» or Stravinsky and is once again very instrumentally appropriate and effectively written. It is played by members of the OSR under the direction of Christophe Sturzenegger with verve and beautiful sound. With an appropriate text version, the piece could also cause a sensation in German-speaking countries.

Musiques de scène : Le Colibri, La Reine des Neiges. Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. Musique et direction Christophe Sturzenegger. Klarthe Records