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NEOS 12028CD
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David Philip Hefti composed his second music theater work based on motives by Hans Christian Andersen: The Snow Queen. The plot centers upon the children Gerda and Kay, whose friendship is put to a severe test when Kay falls under the spell of the Snow Queen. Hefti's high-contrast music creates sometimes shimmering cold, sometimes cozy warmth; the icy Snow Queen -- outstandingly cast with Mojca Erdmann -- sounds "clear and transparent like frozen crystals" (Neue Zürcher Zeitung). The musical story for soprano, two speakers (Delia Mayer and Max Simonischek) and orchestra is aimed equally at children, young people and adults. The recording of the world premiere with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich under the direction of the composer is released on this CD. The 80-page booklet contains the German libretto as well as the English and French translations.
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NEOS 11120CD
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2012 release. "Gegenklang" (Counter-sound) was written in 2010 to a commission from the Tonhalle Society of Zurich and is dedicated to the cellist Thomas Grossenbacher, the conductor David Zinman and the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich. My composition "Bergwarts" is a setting of the poem of the same title by the Swiss author Felix Philipp Ingold. The physical state of the language of this three-part poem evaporates gradually from strophe to strophe, while its content undergoes a converse process -- it densifies. My work endeavours to trace this phenomenon in musical terms. My second string quartet, "Guggisberg Variations," comprises seven movements. I here engage with what is perhaps the most heartfelt Swiss folksong, the "Guggisberg Song." Under the title "The Loneliness of the Shepherd," this minor-mode melody found its way into the song collection Des Knaben Wunderhorn that was edited by Clemens Brentano and Achim von Arnim. The six variations all refer to the folksong, each in its own manner, and employing a broad spectrum of expressive possibilities. "Poeme lunaire" was written in 2008 to a commission from the viola player Michel Rouilly. It is dedicated jointly to him, Bettina Sutter and Hans J. Bar. The shimmering opening bars prepare one's ears for a vortex that is nourished by a constant intensification of motives, harmonies, metres and actions, and finally climaxes in a whirl of noises. The ensuing cantabile sequences dissolve into a barren close that makes use of natural tones and micro-intervals, both in the viola and in the piano. In my music for orchestra, "Klangbogen," different sound fields develop out of a single thread of sound. The contours of these sound fields gradually become clearer through the use of rhythmic structures. At the same time, their organic growth is disturbed by a series of short, external interventions. After a final such break, the music stands still and a process of dissolution is begun. By means of micro-intervals and natural intervals (quartertones, fifth-, sixth- and twelfth-tones), the harmony is expanded to create a sublimity in sound. The music is dominated by a broad spectrum of multiphonics and fragile sounds, and the orchestration is thinned out more and more until only a single, lonely solo cello remains. Performed by: Thomas Grossenbacher (cello), Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, David Zinman (conductor), the Ensemble Amaltea: Sylvia Nopper (soprano), Isabelle Schnöller (flutes), Keiko Yamaguchi (violin), Judith Gerster (cello), Eva Schwaar (piano), the Amar Quartet: Anna Brunner & Igor Keller (violins), Hannes Bartschi (viola), Peter Somodari (cello), as well as Michel Rouilly (viola) Bettina Sutter (piano), Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, Michael Sanderling (conductor).
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NEOS 11016CD
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"ROTAS, a concerto for oboe and orchestra, was composed in 2009 to a commission from the Augsburg Philharmonic Orchestra and is dedicated to that orchestra, to its conductor Rudolf Piehlmayer, and to the soloist Thomas Indermühle. ROTAS is the last composition of my five-part SATOR cycle. These five compositions are united through the use of common musical material derived from the famous 'SATOR square' (sator, arepo, tenet, opera, rotas) that serves as the germ cell of these works. All the parameters of this music are developed from it, as are the formal structures. The Oboe Concerto is particularly closely related to the first composition of the cycle, my Clarinet Concerto, and this creates an arch stretching across the whole cycle. In this three-movement composition, the solo oboe contrasts short phrases played in a single breath (and thus of a 'natural' length) with overlong passages that can only be played by means of circular breathing. An area of conflict is thus created between passages that are perceived as organic in conception, and melodies that seem almost unending. Wunderhorn-Musik was composed in 2008 to a commission from the Ensemble Theater am Gleis in Winterthur (TaG) and the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia, and is dedicated to the violinist Rahel Cunz, the TaG Ensemble and the conductor Jac van Steen. Wunderhorn-Musik was inspired by the folksong collection Des Knaben Wunderhorn, which was published by Clemens Brentano and Achim von Arnim in 1806. Its subtitle 7 Sound Pictures for Violin and Ensemble refers to the fact that the texts on which the work is founded were used in neither a pictorial nor an onomatopoeic fashion during the process of composition. Rather is this work a setting of impressions that were evoked while reading the seven texts in question." - David Philip Hefti
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