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Musik in Zürich 1500-1900 Huldrych ZWINGLI (1484-1531)
1. “Herr, nun heb den wagen selb” (1519) [1:51] Ludwig SENFL (c1486-1542/3)
2. “Allein die Huld” [1:07] Paul HOFHAIMER (1459-1537)
3. “Nach Willen dein” [1:32] Anonymous
4. Scaramella [0:41] Johann Caspar BACHOFEN (1695-1755)
5. “Lobe Zion” [1:57]
6. “Welt, ich achte deiner nicht” [0:36]
7. “Das alte Jahre” [1:37] (1743) Johannes SCHMIDLIN (1722-1772)
8. Five extracts from “Hymnus auf die Allmacht, Weissheit und Güte Gottes” (1761)
[8:04] Johann Heinrich EGLI (1742-1810) & Johann
Jakob WALDER (1750-1817)
9. “Was sorgest du?” [2:46]
10. “Nicht ist, Jusus, deines Gleichen” [1:07] (1775) PhilippChristoph KAYSER (1755-1823) Romance for tenor and
piano (1777) [1:25],
11. “Ein Schauspiel für Götter” for tenor and piano (1777) [3:58]
12. Sonata No 1 in D for piano, violin and two horns: I. Allegro assai (c1780)
[4:08] Anton LISTE (1772-1832)
13. Sonata for Piano and Bassoon Op 3: II. Adagio con espressione (1811) [9:21]
14. Neujahrslied [2:22] Johann Carl ESCHMANN (1826-1882)
15. Neujahrslied (piano solo) (1851) [7:37]
16. String Quartet in D minor: I. Adagio - allegro con fuoco [9:52]
17. “ Zur Weinlese” Op 6/6 for horn and piano (c1852) [4:32] Alexander MÜLLER (1808-1863)
18. Tempo di Mazurka for piano solo (1852) [4:29] Richard WAGNER (1813-1883)
19. Extract from “Siegfrieds Tod” (1853) [4:06] Wilhelm BAUMGARTNER (1820-1867)
“Wenn die Sonne lieblich schiene” Op 4/5 [1:02]
(1-7) Choir of Gonville and Caius
College, Cambridge, Geoffrey Webber (conductor and organ) (8) Purcell Singers,
Robert Howard (organ), Fred Jacobs (theorbo);
(9,10) Katie Towers; Abigail Boreham (sopranos), Geoffrey Webber (organ); (11,12)
Steve Davislim (tenor), William Fong (piano), Roy Howat (piano), Oliver Lewis
(violin), Dave Lee; Chris Davies (horns); (13,14) William Waterhouse (bassoon),
William Fong (piano), Garrie Davislim (tenor), James Rutherford (bass); (15-17)
Jeremy Filsell (piano), Ceruti Quartet, Dave Lee (horn), Roy Howat (piano); (18)
Kathron Sturrock (piano); (19) Yvonne Howard (soprano), Richard Edgar-Wilson
(tenor), Kathron Sturrock (piano); (20) Richard Edgar-Wilson (tenor), Kathron
Sturrock (piano)
Texts and translations included. GUILD GMCD7312 [74:19]
What a dull sounding
title and what a pity if it were to put potential purchasers
off buying this disc! It has been produced to accompany an
exhibition being held this summer in the Zentralbibliothek
Zürich of musical manuscripts, prints and archives. It also
acts as a sampler for a series of recordings (51 at present)
consisting mainly of compositions created or printed in Zürich
since 1500. Most of these recordings have been released by
Guild, and all the selections here are from that company’s
releases. The big surprise is that despite the lack of big
names among the composers – apart from Wagner – the music is
almost always interesting and often more than that.
The disc starts
at the reformation. The reformers of Zürich quickly did away
not only with choral and priestly chanting but also with the
use of the organ. It is therefore a surprise that the first
three tracks should comprise three verses of a song by Zwingli,
one of the leading reformers. He was however also a talented
lutenist, flautist and composer, whose music is heard in later
arrangements for choral or organ use. These are followed by
three very short organ movements collected by Clemens Hör in
about 1535, and by three brief sacred songs by Bachofen. All
of these are of modest interest and are well performed and
recorded, but it is with the next group that real musical interest
starts. These are extracts from a cantata by Johannes Schmidlin
based on James Thomson’s “The Seasons”. They are varied, economical
in scoring and length, and wholly irresistible. If the disc
from which they are extracted is all as good as this it would
be very well worth having (Guild GMCD 7255).
After two short,
functional, but not very interesting sacred songs by Egli and
Walder the remainder of the disc is devoted to later, secular,
music. Philipp Christoph Kayser, a friend of Goethe, moved
to Zürich in 1775. Two of his settings of the poet are included;
both pleasant if not especially memorable. These are followed
by what is in effect a piano solo with accompaniment for violin
and two horns. It is a well crafted and polite piece intended,
as the notes explain, “for the musical edification within a
private upper middle-class environment”. The slow movement
of a Bassoon Sonata by Liste treats the players much more as
equal partners, and is indeed of considerably greater musical
interest. It would be a potentially very useful addition to
the limited bassoon and piano repertoire, and is very well
played here by William Waterhouse and William Fong. A short
vocal duet by Liste is also worth hearing.
The final section
of the disc relates to Richard Wagner’s circle of friends in
Zürich during his temporary exile there. Eschmann is represented
by three instrumental pieces, all attractive if slightly overlong.
These are a piano piece dedicated to Clara Schumann, part of
an early string quartet, and a short but very winning piece
for horn and piano. The final three pieces are all connected
with Fanny Hünerwadel, who studied music in Zürich, financed
by a generous uncle who was a banker. She requested items from
musicians for her musical album which started with an entertaining
Mazurka by Alexander Müller, a pupil of Hummel. A year later
she persuaded Wagner, in exile in the city at that time, to
add a short piece. This was no less than part of the draft
for what he had intended as part of the prelude to “Siegfrieds
Tod”. It comprises a chunk of the duet for Brünnhilde and Siegfried
which eventually became the Prologue to Götterdämmerung.
With piano accompaniment and sung as a chamber duet it has
curiosity value more than anything else, especially as it simply
stops very much after the manner of a “bleeding chunk”. It
is followed by a brief and pleasant song by Baumgartner which
nonetheless is inevitably something of an anti-climax .
The enjoyment of
this disc is greatly heightened by the excellent booklet which
contains lengthy and helpful notes and well laid out text and
translations, as well as by the uniformly excellent performances
and recordings. I can’t imagine a more enticing sampler for
the exhibition or for the various existing recordings. It may
have a dull sounding title and a shortage of big names amongst
composers and performers but I have no hesitation in recommending
it to anyone in search of interesting curiosities.
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