Andermatt Music: Brilliantly Swiss

On February 8, 1935, the Vienna-born, Austrian-American composer and violinist Fritz Kreisler felt compelled to make a scandalous statement in the New York Times: "Circumstances forced me to take this course of action some 30 years ago when I wanted to expand my concert programs. It seemed to me improper and tactless to repeat my name incessantly on the programs." What had happened? The child prodigy Kreisler, who went on to become the star violinist of the early and mid-20th century, had, by his own account, acquired manuscripts of music by old, then unknown composers such as Gaetano Pugnani, François Couperin and Antonio Vivaldi. Kreisler "arranged" these for violin, had the music printed and played the works in his concerts. Only the music critic Olin Downes discovered that many of the supposedly baroque works were in fact penned by Kreisler himself: they were forgeries - the classical music scandal that went around the world was perfect.

What many saw as an amusing joke, angered some critics, in particular Ernest Newman: "How easy it is and always has been to write this kind of music. [...] Anyone with the slightest bit of music in him and the slightest knowledge of the period could produce something like this every morning with the hand he doesn't need to shave." This does not detract from the popularity of Kreisler's compositions, as can be heard in the concert with the Swiss Orchestra and shooting star Sebastian Bohren on the violin: Bohren presents Kreisler's "Prelude and Allegro", initially attributed to Pugnani, and pieces in the Viennese style such as the popular "Liebesfreud" alongside Giuseppe Tartini's virtuoso "Devil's Trill Sonata" and Paul Juon's "Berceuse".

With the "5 Pieces" by composer Paul Juon, who has his roots in Graubünden, and a chorale by George Templeton Strong, who grew up in Geneva, two little-known late Romantic compositions from Switzerland will also be performed. The trademark of the Swiss Orchestra is to rediscover unjustly forgotten works of Swiss classical and romantic music and combine them with famous compositions. And so Edvard Grieg's popular "Holberg Suite" rounds off the varied concert program.

Program:

Paul Juon (1872-1940):

5 pieces for string orchestra op. 16

Giuseppe Tartini (1692-1770):

Sonata in G minor "Teufelstriller" (arrangement by Fritz Kreisler)

Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962):

Prelude and Allegro

Variations on a theme by Corelli

Liebesfreud

Beautiful rosemary

Paul Juon:

4 pieces for violin and piano (version for violin and orchestra) op. 28 No. 3 Berceuse

Edvard Grieg (1843-1907):

Holberg Suite op. 40

George Templeton Strong (1856-1948):

Chorale on Theme of Leo Hassler

Note: This text was translated by machine translation software and not by a human translator. It may contain translation errors.