OPENING CEREMONY
Between Switzerland and Bohemia, this concert brings together nostalgic traditional songs and gypsy virtuosity, and is performed by Swiss musical masters of all generations, making the Verbier Festival one of the standard-bearers of national culture.
Programme
JEAN DAETWYLER (1907-1994)
Ai-na-na, danse des bergers anniviards
TRADITIONAL
S’isch äbe n’e Mönsch uf Ärde (Guggisberglied), arr. Carl Munzinger
TOBIAS SALZGEBER (1974-)
Stilles Land
PABLO DE SARASATE (1844-1908)
Zigeunerweisen Op. 20
HANSRUEDI KÄMPFEN (1953-)
Abschied vom Rhonetal
DAVID POPPER (1843-1913)
Hungarian Rhapsody Op. 68
EUGEN MEIER (1934-)
Sehnsucht
JOSEPH BOVET (1879-1951)
Ô nuit brillante
EUGEN MEIER (1934-)
Weischus dü?
Concert without interval
Distribution
- Arthur Trælnes violin
- Estelle Revaz cello
- Roberto Olzer piano
- Ensemble apartig
- Oberwalliser Vokalensemble
- Hansruedi Kämpfen musical director
Jean Daetwyler, founder of the Sion Conservatoire, blends French impressionism with his love of the Val d’Anniviers. The magnificent Ai-na-na is a case in point, alternating between nostalgic choral sections and others featuring highly original use of the voice, with the singers’ onomatopoeia almost resembling percussion instruments. His music seems to echo that of Joseph Bovet, a clergyman who devoted his vocal work to describing everyday life in the canton of Fribourg.
The same distant sound is heard in the traditional Guggisberglied. A song of love and absence, it is a veritable cultural treasure, thanks to the countless revivals that have been made of it and the depth of the original text.
After the war, a new generation of composers took hold of the national heritage: such was the case of Eugen Meier, whose variation on Weischus’dü? which can be considered as the second Valais anthem, is at the heart of this programme.
Also at the heart of this programme are two works by contemporary Swiss composers who specialise in their country’s popular choral music. One of them, Hansruedi Kämpfen, is none other than the conductor leading the concert.
And while the bravura pieces Zigeunerweisen by Sarasate and Hungarian Rhapsody by Popper are not by Swiss composers, they will be performed by two young virtuosos from the younger generation of national musicians: Arthur Traelnes, concertmaster of the Verbier Festival Orchestra between 2022 and 2024, and Estelle Revaz, recently named by L’Hebdo as one of the 100 personalities who make up French-speaking Switzerland.