Friedrich Cerha (1926-)
8 Mouvements sur les fragments de F. Hölderlin pour sextuor à cordes
Quintette pour hautbois et quatuor à cordes
9 Bagatelles pour trio à cordes

Swiss Chamber Soloits

Heinz Holliger, hautbois
Esther Hoppe, violon
Meesun Hong Coleman, violon
Daria Zappa, violon
Corinne Chapelle, violon
Hanna Weinmeister, violon
Jürg Dähler, alto
Hannes Bärtschi, alto
Daniel Haefliger, violoncelle
Patrick Demenga, violoncelle

The fundamental sound of Friedrich Cerha’s music is unique. Viennese, his sources definitely come from the lineage of Bruckner, Mahler, Berg and Webern, but, first and foremost, he has escaped categorization. His life, turned upside down by the war, will lead him to acquire the new languages of the 20th century, without ever allowing himself to be enclosed in any kind of system. His music reveals a hidden interior world rooted in rare sincerity, a type of bareness that touches us to the extreme. With generosity mixed with resistance, he drives us, unbeknown to us, to explore depths that sometimes fringe on the abyssal. This path is filled with surprising events, exceptionally concise, clear and bewitching. It is amazing how this brilliant artisan and discreet magician overwhelms us with incredible harmonic finds. How he can suddenly produce out of nowhere a wild dance, or a bird, or even this strange croaking sound? Beyond form and style, nature and life light up Friedrich Cerha’s music with their surprising presence. Whether it expresses hope or despair, violence or gentleness, its essence always proceeds from a calmness that links us to a kind of magnetic and mysterious spirituality.