Heinz Holliger: Induuchlen

Strangely beautiful album from Heinz Holliger, with the Swiss composer drawing inspiration from very Swiss sources. The centrepiece of this recording is the vocal cycle “Puneigä” which sets the poetry of Anna Maria Bacher, who writes in an idiom threatened by extinction: the Walser-German language of Pumattertisch, native to the Pomater valley. “Holliger regards a word, like a breath or a heartbeat, as a physical impulse” (Michael Kunkel, in the liner notes). Soprano Sylvia Hopper sings, amid transient sounds intoned by flute, horn, cello and viola. Mrs Bacher also recites her verse in a sequence of unaccompanied readings. “Induuchlen” itself is comprised of four songs with words by Albert Streich, for countertenor and natural horn, and the album is bookended by two pieces set up to challenge the resourcefulness of ensemble players and soloists - “Toronto Excercises” and “Ma’mounia” - with Holliger in conductor’s role. The recording is issued simultaneously with Holliger’s Bach album “Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis”.

Anna Maria Bacher recitation
Albert Streich recitation
Sylvia Nopper soprano
Kai Wessel countertenor
Olivier Darbellay horn
Matthias Würsch percussion
Swiss Chamber Soloists
Heinz Holliger conductor

Toronto-Exercises
for flute, clarinet, violin, harp and marimbaphone

Poems by Anna Maria Bacher

Puneigä
for soprano, flute, clarinet, french horn, cello and percussion

Induuchlen by Albert Streich

Induuchlen
for countertenor and natural horn

Ma'mounia
for percussion and five instruments

Recorded 2007-2010

ECM New Series 2201