It is an incredibly clever book, precisely because it is critical of its own cleverness. It is hard to imagine the amount of knowledge Mathias Gredig compiles on the subject of animal music and yet he remains skeptical, methodically supported by the all-doubting, Pyrrhonian skepticism of antiquity: Can we even say whether animals make music? After all, the animals should know. What were the baboons, sacred to the Egyptians, thinking when they greeted the sun with their cries/songs?

At least as interesting, of course, is how people related to the animals and their music. It was clear to everyone that nightingales sing beautifully, but do they make art music? No, says Augustine, because they don't understand numerical relationships and intervals. Strange reasoning, but quite typical of philosophers. "That could be countered in a number of ways," says Gredig meaningfully.

This one example already shows how contradictory and diverse our human relationship to animal sounds is. Not only can the sound systems not be compared with each other, the worlds of expression are completely diverse. This alienation has been reflected throughout the centuries in graphic caricatures of donkeys, dogs, geese and above all monkeys making music, but also in musical imitations. It was not uncommon for an artist to prefer nature music to human noise. And some anecdotes once again demonstrate, unsurprisingly, how cruelly the noble human race treated animals. Athanasius Kircher, for example, tells of a cat organ: the animals enclosed in it had needles stuck into their tails via the keyboard!

The source material that Gredig presents here is highly disparate and plentiful. The young musicologist, who wrote his dissertation on the subject in Basel in 2017, has now produced an overwhelming compendium on "animal music". It covers a wide range of topics, from the oldest antiquity to the 19th century, from Pythagoras to Thoreau and Alkan, from Ptolemaic sculptures to Grandville, and finally to the present day; it is sometimes rambling, but always instructive, invites you to lose yourself, and also casts some certainties into quiet doubt - and yet is generally easy, even amusing, to read.

Mathias Gredig: Animal music. On the history of skeptical zoomusicology; 506 p., € 64.00, Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2018, ISBN 978-3-8260-6468-5

The bar is set high right at the beginning. A voiceover recites Bertolt Brecht's poem to the black screen To those born after from the time of National Socialism, then a hundred heavily armed policemen march to the sounds of Bach's St. Matthew Passion through the picture. The drop height is appropriate: one cut and we are at Zurich Central, where we fought with the police in 1968 - left-wing nostalgia in black and white. For Christian Labhart, this was the initial political spark. His film is the typical autobiography of a Swiss leftist who read Marx and Adorno fifty years ago and, despite serious doubts, still clings to the utopia of the "right life in the wrong" today. But the circumstances are not like that. Baader-Meinhof dead end, Chernobyl, 9/11, financial crisis, robots, Syria, globalization, broken environment: a tear-off calendar of horror, a permanent dystopia, prepared with paradoxically beautiful images from the senseless world of things. If people appear as individuals, then it is the author himself and his surroundings, otherwise they are an anonymous mass - the curse of thinking in abstract categories of humanity. The unconditional yes to life that characterizes people's everyday lives in Africa, for example, is alien to this film essay, which is permeated by suffering in the world.

As a balm for the wounded soul, excerpts from the St. Matthew Passion with Philippe Herreweghe and his Collegium Vocale Gent. Here, people are engaged in a meaningful activity, a stark contrast to the images of a broken world. But Labhart seems to have made a misunderstanding with Bach. The secular recoding of the Passion turns the high pathos of religious suffering into profane self-pity, and instead of Christ, Ulrike Meinhof is mourned. "What remains?" is the final intertitle. Bach's final music provides the answer: "We sit down with tears." It could have been a little more.

Passion. Between revolt and resignation, a film by Christian Labhart. LookNow film distribution.
In theaters from April 18

The duo Knuth and Tucek are the actress Nicole Knuth, who grew up in Küsnacht in a theater family with Viennese roots, and the singer Olga Tucek, who grew up in Zurich with Czech roots and trained as a classical singer. According to the Federal Office of Culture, they deal with "everyday grievances such as abuse of power or social injustices in dramaturgically cleverly constructed scenarios and stories in a critical but also humorous way".

The Swiss Cabaret Prize was founded in 1993 by Thun initiators as the "Golden Tuna". It was later taken over and organized by the KTV ATP - Vereinigung KünstlerInnen - Theater - VeranstalterInnen, Switzerland, under its current name. Since 2015, the Kleinkunstpreis has been part of the Swiss Theater Awards and is presented as part of the Swiss Artists' Exchange.

The anniversary year of Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) has shown this impressively: The fascination for this exceptional musician is unbroken; he is still highly regarded as an eccentric conductor and as a rediscoverer of Gustav Mahler's music. And the composer? The Laaber publishing house has now dedicated a volume of its renowned book series "Great Composers and their Time" to Bernstein and his compositional activity in all its facets. It is an astonishing undertaking to present the "enfant terrible" of the scene in a row with such important exponents as Beethoven, Brahms or Mahler. But this is precisely the appeal of this compendium: its objective, musicological approach. It is not a biography, rather the book consists of specialist essays on selected topics, five of which are dedicated to the composer Bernstein, five others to individual works such as the wonderful Chichester Psalms.

And there really is a lot to discover, especially as Gregor Herzfeld's essay "In Search of an American Music" at the beginning looks at the beginnings of classical music production in the USA. Ulrich Wilker devotes himself to Bernstein's symphonic oeuvre in "Crisis Scenarios and Weltanschauungsmusik", while Nils Grosch explains his "Musical Comedies". Of course, there are also reflections on Bernstein as a conductor and on his "mediation of music in film and television" - long before the education wave. His role in the cultivation of Mahler is also critically reflected upon.

The book is supplemented by a detailed chronology that begins as early as 1892 with the birth of the Orthodox Hasidic father, Shmuel Yosef. This is followed by an extensive 42-page chronology of his life and work, which also includes important political events. Editor Andreas Eichhorn presents an interesting, varied book with a list of works that shows how extensive Bernstein's compositional oeuvre is, alongside the West Side Story is - even if only a selection is listed.

Leonard Bernstein and his time, edited by Andreas Eichhorn, 407 p., € 37.80, Laaber-Verlag, Laaber 2017, ISBN 978-3-89007-768-0

Martin Keller's collection of material on layer playing is the result of the author's intensive study of the baroque violin, which is held with the left hand and not with the chin. For this reason, a large part of the book is devoted to slurring and neck positions.

The first impression is characterized by musical and technical inventiveness. A multitude of layer change secrets are developed in a musically stimulating way. This hits two birds with one stone. The booklet contains a lot of good reading material in all keys, different styles and rhythms, beautiful original compositions and stimulating duets. On the other hand, there are no longer pieces that would get you going. Most of the problems concerning changes of position are precisely explained and substantiated with telling examples. However, the naming of certain practices with letters seems somewhat intellectual. They should be replaced by clear technical or figurative names. The detailed explanation and practice of contraction and extension is a plus. However, it is not specified that these techniques are only suitable for slow, expressive music. For fast passages, the fourth fingering suitable for the respective position should not be burdened with contractions and extensions, otherwise the intonation will suffer. The sections on scales and runs through the circle of fifths p. 8 and 114/115 are particularly successful (excellent!), The ski jumper p. 13 and the introduction to the artificial harmonics p. 112 and 113.

However, the booklet lacks a few things to be considered a "school", i.e. to be didactically constructive:

1. The elementary experience of the fingerboard, first in its entire length; arm swing sideways (elbow) and forwards-backwards, wrist bends. Principle "from the big to the small".
2. Awareness of the different contacts of the finger to the string in a separate chapter: a do not touch (empty string) when changing positions freely (also as a preliminary stage to c: changing positions with the empty string suggested in order to learn to release the finger pressure), b glide like "skating mosquito" (flageolet (glissando)), c loose change-of-pitch glissando as audible pitch glide, d firm gripping.
3. Sufficient exercises and pieces with changes of position by measuring the interval between the change of position of the last finger of the old position ("cab") and its auxiliary tone ("cab position") in the new position with finger contact c (see 2.) and only then resolute fingering with the target finger. At the same time, become aware of the anticipation of the target fingering.
4. In this context, the conscious repositioning of the playing finger, e.g. when sliding a major third from steep to flat, and vice versa for a minor third, was also part of this.
5. Use of resonance tones for secure intonation.
6. Why is the booklet limited to the first four positions? In my opinion, for example, transposing a melody on the same string(s) an octave higher is a useful and clear experience of the narrowing of the fourth fingering (actually belongs under 1.), which takes place with all changes of position. Furthermore, all the important contacts of the hand with the instrument are not mentioned and all three should be made aware of: a 1st and 2nd position free wrist, b 3rd and 4th position wrist leaning against the body, c 5th and higher positions thumb span at the base of the neck.
7. The role of bending the wrist forwards and backwards, e.g. when "fetching" some notes in the half position from the 2nd position and back to it, which leads directly to real Paganini position playing (see Philippe Borer: The twenty-four caprices of Niccolo Paganini, their significance for the history of violin playing and the music of the romantic eraStiftung Zentralstelle der Studentenschaft der Universität Zürich, 1997). There it is shown in many examples that Paganini reaches many positions (about 1st-6th) from the hand position of the 3rd position. This approach has helped me to find simple solutions to many tricky passages. Keller has good, similar, but smaller requirements with so-called pseudo-position changes, but without mentioning the role of the wrist, which allows the arm to be kept stable (and therefore secure) in one position. The wrist is also the motor for playing to the half position and back; the arm remains in the first position.

If the author recommends an individually suitable selection from his material to the teachers, they must be aware that his material is valuable but not comprehensive.

Martin Keller, Lagenspiel auf der Geige Introduction to the 1st (incl. half) to 4th positions and their alternation, movement and intonation problems. Self-published, available from the author for viewing or purchase (copying costs Fr. 22.50),
m.keller-rall@bluewin.ch

Otilie Suková, the daughter of Antonín Dvořák and wife of Josef Suk, was musically gifted. She not only played the piano, but also wrote several compositions of her own, inspired by her surroundings. Suk described how these came about in a vivid and touching way in a letter: "Once, after my return from a trip, she confessed to me that she had also composed some short pieces for piano. At first she was embarrassed to play them for me, but when I finally got her to play them, she was delighted when I picked up a pencil the second time and wrote everything down as I had heard it from her."

Four piano pieces have been preserved in this way: Humoresque, Lullaby, Joschi on the little horse and The dear dad. Eva Prchalová has now published all four in an exemplary edition with Bärenreiter Prague. This is the first time that the latter has appeared in printed form. (The house in Prague has always distinguished itself with excellent editions!)

The pieces are skillfully set for the piano, moderately demanding and enchant with their beauty of sound, distinctive harmonies and a charm all of their own. Otilie Suková died far too early at the age of just 27, one year after her famous father. Josef Suk paid tribute to his deceased wife with the symphony Asrael an impressive musical monument.

Otilie Suková: Piano Pieces, Urtext edited by Eva Prchalová, BA 11557, € 8.95, Bärenreiter, Prague 2018

With the publication of the best-known organ symphonies by Charles-Marie Widor (1844-1937), Carus-Verlag is making another important contribution to the edition of French organ symphonies following its edition of Louis Vierne's organ works. While the problem with Vierne is the numerous printing errors, partly due to the composer's poor eyesight, with Widor it is the question of the authoritative version that an editor must decide on. The composer revised his organ symphonies several times in the course of his career, repeatedly making major or minor corrections and adjustments or even replacing entire movements, as in the case of the Second Symphony, for example, where a typically Romantic "hunting horn scherzo" was replaced by a Salute Regina in Widor's late style, which seems to fit only with difficulty into the context of the other movements. Due to these differences between the versions, it is important to decide carefully which edition to use, all the more so as early versions that do not correspond to the composer's "last will" are also circulating on the Internet or with American reprint publishers. For example, the inexpensive Dover edition of the complete symphonies in two volumes, which is popular among students, reproduces the 1887 version. Wear and tear on the original printing plates also causes certain difficulties with regard to the legibility of the text.

In the case of the present symphony, Widor's most famous thanks to its rousing final toccata, the Fifth, the first editions appeared in 1879 and 1887, but were revised in 1901, 1902-11, 1920 and 1928/29, with Widor, as always, revising the musical text and making further changes even after the last edition. For example, the second movement (originally an ABA form with an integral reprise of the A section and an internal repeat) was reduced by almost 150 bars for the last edition by omitting the repeat and drastically shortening the A' section; in the Toccata, Widor added articulations and accents and slowed the tempo from crotchet = 118 to 100 - a clear adjustment that can be verified by Widor's own recording from 1932, but which many interpreters still ignore today.

Back in the 1990s, A-R Editions published a critical complete edition of all the symphonies in the USA, which provided meticulous information about the differences in the texts and readings, but received little attention in this country. The present Carus edition by Georg Koch also uses the last revision of the symphony from 1928/29 as its main source, supplemented by later handwritten corrections by Widor; the differences between the two new editions are therefore marginal. The Critical Report provides insight into readings of the earlier versions or additions from Widor's circle of students (in the present case, for example, Albert Schweitzer's hand copy with a suggested shortening), some of which could represent interesting alternatives, for example in certain registrations, which Widor in his late style made less colorful and more "clarified" than two decades earlier. The player thus has a reliable source with an informative preface that provides a clear picture of the work's genesis and, like its American counterpart, is highly recommended.

Charles-Marie Widor: Symphonie No. V pour Orgue op. 42,1, edited by Georg Koch, CV 18.179, € 29.95, Carus, Stuttgart 2018

The Fantasy pieces op. 43 by Niels Wilhelm Gade, a classic of the clarinet repertoire, has been newly published in the Henle Urtext series. Nicolai Pfeffer has produced the beautiful critical edition in the usual Henle quality. The first edition published by Kistner in Leipzig in 1864 was used as the main source for this edition, with the composer's autograph from 1864 and a new edition from 1878 published by Wilhelm Hansen, Copenhagen, as additional sources. Between the surviving autograph and the first edition, the composer made changes to the tempo of the first movement (from Larghetto to Larghetto con moto to Andantino con moto) and to the time signature of the second movement (4/4 instead of Alla breve). Otherwise, the changes mainly concern a few minor differences in articulation, phrasing and dynamics. The score of this new edition is clear and tidy. There are almost no editor's notes in the musical text itself, but there is a detailed critical commentary in the appendix.

In contrast to earlier editions, the Henle version does not include a solo part for violin. This was probably only included with the first edition due to the publishing practice of the time, and its authorship is unclear.

Niels Wilhelm Gade: Fantasiestücke op. 43 for clarinet and piano, Urtext edited by Nicolai Pfeffer, HN 1353, € 14.00, G. Henle, Munich 2017

The nice thing about good sheet music editions is that they don't burn up in the firmament as quickly as all the stars and starlets of the music scene. Whereas there the marketing literally screams for immediate attention (and sales figures), in the music trade they are so-called long sellers - i.e. products that people like to return to again and again. This is also the case with the Sorcerer's apprentice by Paul Dukas, which has been published by Edition Eulenburg in a larger format as a study score based on the sources and in sharp focus.

The work, written in 1896/97, is based on Goethe's ballad of the same name. However, it was not the many successful performances in the Old and New World that were decisive for the composition's afterlife, but Walt Disney's legendary animated film Fantasia (1940), in which the score was congenially realized. What can be unsuspectingly perceived here as precise Mickey Mousing is heard by the connoisseur as a quasi-pictorial realization of the original ballad, on which Hollywood's film images were only subsequently placed. A lesson in the convoluted paths of reception history. The new edition of the score (including Goethe's verses in English and French translation) is therefore to be welcomed. - It could be of educational benefit not only today, but also in the long term.

Paul Dukas: L'Apprenti Sorcier, edited by Jean-Paul C. Montagnier, study score, ETP 8081, € 24.50, Eulenburg (Schott), Mainz

The pedagogical skill of Kristin Thielemann, the author of this anthology, seems obvious when you look at the short trouvailles from the last five centuries of music history, which have been compiled with care and intelligence. From Tilman Susato to Handel and Verdi to smaller compositions of his own, Thielemann knows how to serve up music for young soloists that they can enjoy performing in rehearsals and competitions. Unknown (German dance by Johann Hermann Schein) is in harmonious balance with the classical evergreens (Joy, beautiful spark of the gods), the piano part is simply set and could also be used by interested piano students. To complete the offer, there is also an accompanying CD in this booklet for use at home. A really worthwhile alternative or supplement for lessons with young musicians, who in this way become carefully familiarized with the various musical styles.

My first concerto. 26 easy recital pieces from 5 centuries, edited by Kristin Thielemann, ED 22326, with CD, € 18.50, Schott, Mainz 2017

The eight Spanish dances by Pablo de Sarasate were first published by Simrock in 1878. Henle has brought them together in one booklet (HN 1370) and the most popular (and easiest), Romanza andaluza, republished as a single volume. The Urtext mainly follows the old edition and is supplemented with detailed notes and bar numbers. The violin part is printed twice: as the Urtext and with meaningful fingerings and bowings by Ingolf Turban. In addition, Sarasate's original fingerings have been entered in the violin part of the quavers score, which is of historical interest.

Pablo de Sarasate: Romanza andaluza, Spanish Dance No. 3 for violin and piano, Urtext edited by Peter Jost, HN 1346, € 7.50, G. Henle, Munich

The Syrian composer, oud player and arranger Hassan Taha does not live in our country entirely by choice. He settled in Bern as a refugee and turned his ears to the musical traditions of his new homeland - in search of an emotional bridge between his country of origin and Switzerland. According to the booklet, the name of his ensemble "Brunnen & Brücken" ("Fountains & Bridges") stands as a "metaphor for a lively and unifying communication between peoples, carried, as it were, by the primal element of water". The symbolism is not immediately obvious, but is not explained further. The CD Alrozana combines Bernese and Syrian songs, orchestrated with an ensemble of strings, alphorn, hammered dulcimer, Schwyzerörgeli and the Arabic lute oud. The singers are the Swiss Barbara Berger and the Syrian Najat Suleiman. Taha's arrangements are original, the tonal details are surprising and the ensemble of mainly Swiss folk music instruments often sounds exotically transformed. It seems obvious that an arranger was at work who did not fall into the trap of reproducing sound and form clichés many times over, which would probably prevent musicians in this country from breaking new ground. The ensemble is led by Hans Martin Stähli. As a music teacher at a Bernese grammar school and choirmaster, he has a wealth of experience in arranging folk songs as well as intercultural music projects.

The numbers, including the Syrian ones, all have a similar style, faster titles are missing, which makes the compilation somewhat monotonous. The icons of Bernese song are included: Simelibärg and It's not a special tribe, the first row of cows that - especially in the Freiburg version of the Ranz des vaches - is often referred to as the Blues of the Alps; Always i Truurea deeply sad song (in a major key, of all things!) and the elegiac Lueget vo Bärge and Tal. The original medieval Senfl song clearly falls outside the grid It's day before the forest. The original is characterized by a Lydian fourth, which also characterizes alphorn music. In contrast, the vocal line sung here seems romantically soft. The choice and function of this song, the only one performed in High German, therefore remain a mystery. Thanks to all the key characteristics, it might have been possible to find a few more interfaces to the differentiated scale world of Syrian-Arabic music.

The major of Always i Truure reveals the ambiguity of the Bernese folk song aesthetic, which conceals suffering and pain with simplicity and apparent harmlessness. In Hassan Taha's arrangements, on the other hand, the songs experience a sometimes seemingly harsh shortness of breath, which is emphasized by the recording aesthetics. The room seems bare and the instruments are closely miked. A softer sound would perhaps have softened this relentlessness somewhat. On the whole, however, the project testifies to an intensive and stimulating examination of the similarities and incompatibilities of Central European and Middle Eastern expressivity.
 

Wilhelm Klingenbrunner (1782-mid-19th century), who worked full-time as a "landständischer Cassen-Beamter" at the Lower Austrian Landobereinnehmeramt, taught himself to sing, play the flute, clarinet, basset horn and guitar, as was customary in bourgeois circles at the time. However, playing music just to pass the time, as a "dilettante", was not enough for him. He was an excellent flautist, a member of the Society of Friends of Music, founded in 1812, and was active as a composer and - under the pseudonym Wilhelm Blum - also as a popular poet in the artistic circles of his time in Vienna. Almost 70 compositions of an unpretentious but pleasing character for flute or csakan have come down to us from him, as well as arrangements (e.g. of Mozart's Magic flute) and instrumental schools, such as a "flute school in two sections based on his own experience".

The works in this new edition are taken from the "New Theoretical and Practical Csakan School" published around 1815. This enjoyed great popularity within a short time, not least because of its instructions on recorder technique and performance practice. For example, the contemporary understanding of the "staccato repulsion sign" reads as follows: "passages marqued with punctures demand the special attack of each individual note", i.e. not a short note as is usual today, but a particularly emphasized note.

This selection, published in the "Diletto musicale" series, includes an informative preface and 25 short duets of increasing difficulty and varying character in the light-footed style of the Biedermeier period. Song-like movements and common dance forms such as minuet, waltz, alla polacca or angloise alternate.

Not only as a composer of "popular little works for the flute and the csakan" (as Gustav Schilling's Musical lexicon from 1840), Klingenbrunner seems to have shown talent. He always caught the fish for Beethoven and was therefore jokingly referred to by the latter as the fish warden. Once, however, he seems not to have caught any fresh fish, whereupon Beethoven wrote disgruntledly in his conversation book: "I have a spoiled stomach / Klingenbrunner / He is to the flute what Gelinek was to the piano / Nothing but variations on the usual beat."

Wilhelm Klingenbrunner: 25 small duets from op. 40, for two recorders in C (flutes / oboes / violins or other melody instruments), edited by Helmut Schaller and Nikolaj Tarasov, DM 1490, € 17.95, Doblinger, Vienna