140 horn players aged 7 to 80 were taught by 15 instructors - making the Solothurn Horn Days one of the largest horn festivals in Europe.

Internationally renowned personalities such as Frøydis Ree Wekre, Pascal Deuber, Jörg Brückner, Christian Lampert, Anneke Scott, Olivier Darbellay and other top-class solo hornists from Paris, Budapest, Lucerne and music teachers from Switzerland formed a friendly team.

The three concerts were major highlights: Straussʼ Alpine Symphony with organist Nadia Bacchetta in the Reformed City Church and the solo gala concert by the lecturers in the concert hall offered the highest level of horn artistry. Finally, all participants performed a varied program in the auditorium of the cantonal school - an impressive testimony to what can be achieved in just a few days of rehearsals.

The main aim of the horn days was to play together in small and larger ensembles in order to put into practice in groups what had been learned during the year in individual lessons. This goal was fully achieved in various performance groups. The ensemble lessons were supplemented with individual lessons, which could be attended as desired.

The Horn Days were rounded off with exhibitions by Music Spada AG, Zoltan Juhasz Naturhörner and Buffet Crampon.

Due to its success, it was decided to hold the next event from September 13 to 15, 2024.

The program includes the Brahms Violin Concerto and the Mozart Requiem. In between, Peter-Lukas Graf, the doyen of the flute guild, will perform Mozart's Andante in C major, KV 315. The concerts with ticket sales will take place from October 27 to 29 in Zurich, Lucerne and Bern. The dress rehearsal on October 26 in Basel's St. Martin's Church is open to the public. The soloist in the violin concerto will be Elea Nick on the first two evenings, while Alexandre Dubach will perform in Lucerne and Bern.

Further information:  https://www.philharmonicacademy.ch

Interview on SRF on Peter-Lukas Graf's 90th birthday

https://www.srf.ch/news/90-geburtstag-peter-lukas-graf-ein-leben-mit-der-floete

How the Musikkollegium Winterthur Dominik Deuber is leaving the ensemble at the end of July 2024. He has led the ensemble since August 2020 and "in his function as Director
and helped to develop it into a nationally and internationally respected institution". Today, the Musikkollegium Winterthur is excellently established throughout Switzerland and Europe. Under his leadership, the number of subscribers has tripled.

According to Philipp Stoffel, President of the Musikkollegium Winterthur, the orchestra is reluctant to let Deuber go, but sees the opportunity offered to him at Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR). The succession plan will be initiated.

With her death at the beginning of December 2022, we not only said goodbye to a great musician and pianist, but also to an extraordinary woman who had been a meaningful person for countless people on their own journey through life. Eva Serman's passion for music went hand in hand with a deep reverence for life, an awareness of the uniqueness of every person and a palpable gratitude for the gift and task of being able to dedicate her life to music and people.

Born in Keszthely/Hungary in 1937, she began her piano studies in Budapest and continued with Hubert Harry at the Lucerne Conservatory after emigrating to Switzerland in 1958. She taught piano and chamber music there for 40 years from 1963. She also trained pianists through the Swiss Music Pedagogical Association, was involved in the board, was responsible for the classification of piano literature for the level examinations and was a sought-after expert. She was also a regular member of the jury at competitions, including the Swiss Youth Music Competition.

Eva Serman cultivated a broad pianistic and chamber music repertoire and was always keen to explore and grasp a wide variety of musical genres in greater depth. She had a special love for historical keyboard instruments. On these as well as on the modern grand piano, she was a confident teacher and concert pianist, including at the Lucerne International Music Festival.

Eva Serman was a competent and committed teacher and pianist for her students. In addition, she had the gift of not only seeing pianistic abilities in the person opposite her, but also perceiving them with the various facets of their humanity. She was a valuable support for many in the university, an inspiring musician and a person to whom we will remain grateful beyond her death.

 

The program includes a forty-voice motet, but there are only two singers on stage who take turns. The forty voices of the nine-minute piece are not sung simultaneously, as would normally be the case, but one after the other. Each voice is recorded individually, mixed with the previous ones and played back into the hall via sixteen loudspeakers while one of the singers sings the next. Instead of nine minutes, it takes forty times nine minutes, i.e. six hours of pure music time and, with breaks, eight.

The motet is called Spem in alium and was probably performed in London in 1573 for the fortieth birthday of Queen Elizabeth I; the composer is Thomas Tallis, a celebrity in his time, the two singers are the countertenor Terry Wey, who effortlessly climbs the soprano register, and the bass-baritone Ulfried Staber; they are members of the Viennese vocal ensemble Cinquecento and perform in the Tallis project under the name "multiple voices".

How a monumental sound is created

The performance was a focal point of the fall festival of the Early Music Forum Zurich. Anyone who took the time to spend a Sunday listening in the spacious neo-renaissance church in Zurich-Enge witnessed a fascinating experiment. One experienced the slow development of a magnificent vocal work, voice by voice it grew into a monumental sound event. With its undulating web of voices, it provided a spatial experience that was not inferior to the original with eight sub-choirs distributed throughout the room. The reduction to just two singers, who were supported by a sensitive technique (Markus Wallner and Bernd Oliver Fröhlich), meant that the color-graded interplay of the polychoral music was omitted, but the purity and homogeneity of the sound made for a no less exciting listening experience.

The concerts of the Early Music Forum, led by baroque flutist Martina Joos and former radio editor Roland Wächter, which take place every year in March and September, always feature original programs and thus intelligently bring music from earlier eras to today's audiences. In addition to the hard core of the more than two hundred members of the association, they also attract other listeners whose interests extend beyond the standard classical repertoire. And what may surprise some people is that this music does not sound strange to our ears at all. In the sound world of a motet by Tallis or a song by John Dowland, it is easy to recognize the roots of our modern understanding of music.

Transhistorical concert practice

In addition to Tallis, this year's autumn festival focused on the "triumvirate" of William Byrd, John Dowland and Henry Purcell, the first two leading composers of the Elizabethan era, the third the towering figure of English Baroque music. All four were presented in the opening concert, in a mixture of sacred and secular works typical of the period. As a small window to our own time, the choral movement composed shortly before the Second World War was heard in between Advance, Democracy by Benjamin Britten, who is considered Purcell's legitimate heir in England. The performers were the Vokalensemble Zürich West under Marco Amherd. The young ensemble, a prizewinner in the elite category of the Swiss Choir Competition, showed what it owes its reputation with its infectious joy of music-making and weightless melodiousness.

The program idea of combining old and new was also the inspiration for the concert by three members of the Ensemble thélème. Songs from the 1600 published Second Booke of Songs by John Dowland alternated with solo numbers from the songbooks of John Cage. An unconventional idea that was enthusiastically received by the audience. Only the minute-long scenic interludes such as card laying and the tying of shoelaces were dull and boring - a reference to the chance operations that were often part of Cage's compositional business. There was a lack of feeling for a coherent concert dramaturgy. Transhistoricism, which was practiced to some extent here as well as with the Vokalensemble Zürich West, could, however, prove to be a promising model for the future.

Composer between the times

The second major focus of the festival was the performance of the Messa Solenne a 3 Cori by Franz Joseph Leonti Meyer von Schauensee (1720-1789) by the vocal ensemble larynx and the Capricornus Consort Basel under the direction of Jakob Pilgram. The now largely forgotten composer, the son of a Lucerne patrician with excellent connections in the ecclesiastical and social establishment of his time, was a councillor, clergyman, organist and bandmaster at the Lucerne Court Church and at one point a mercenary leader in Italy. A jack of all trades, he gave free rein to his compositional enthusiasm after completing his musical training in Milan. In his Mass of 1749, which lasts over two hours and has now been made newly accessible in a critical edition by a team of musicologists from Geneva, this is reflected in a wealth of sometimes original, sometimes half-baked ideas and an extremely generous use of time; the first two movements of the Mass alone last seventy minutes.

Sacred and secular-concertante elements stand side by side. Each mass movement is introduced by a short Sinfonia, a reference to the early symphonic practice of the Milan School. With blaring brass and a four-four time signature nailed to the tonic-dominant alternation, a festive, pompous tone prevails for the most part, even spilling over into the first Kyrie at the beginning. In keeping with the convention of the time, three offertories and - again with much fanfare - even a rudimentary instrumental battaglia are inserted between the mass movements. But the composer was also able to strike other notes. This is evident, for example, in the playful echo effects, in the darkly colored Crucifixus passage or in the fortissimo aria with three basses following the Sanctus. And two hundred and fifty years before the famous three tenors, Meyer von Schauensee already had a trio in this register.

For all its pomp, the mass breathes the spirit of the galant age, which is manifested in the simplified harmony and meter as well as a pleasing melody. The formulaic use of baroque figures and remnants of a harmonically starved basso continuo characterize the work as a late product of an outgoing era.

The outstanding feature of the mass, however, is its three-part texture. Meyer von Schauensee composed it for the canons of Beromünster Abbey, where there are three galleries, each with an organ. In Zurich's Fraumünster, this spatial arrangement was only used to a limited extent. The situation was presumably different in the monastery church in Muri, where the mass was performed for the second time a few days later. It was recorded by radio and television and will be broadcast on the upcoming Thursday, Oct. 5 at 8 p.m. on SRF 2 Kultur broadcast on television (with a selection of sentences) on December 24 at approx. 21.45h.

 

At their closed meeting in Regensburg on September 18 and 19 on transnational music policy issues, the heads of the music councils of Germany, Austria and Switzerland (D-A-CH) issued a declaration on the implementation of the Unesco declaration "Mondiacult": Culture is created locally. The background to this is the Unesco World Conference on Cultural Policy and Sustainable Development "Mondiacult" in 2022, when culture was declared a "global public good".

The D-A-CH Music Councils write in their declaration: "Social cohesion is created through local encounters. Cultural policy is social policy which, as a cross-sectional task, takes responsibility for almost all parliamentary committees and government departments in the context of European and international agreements."

Download the declaration (PDF)

 

 

At the end, the winner of the Grand Prix Music and the Federal President perform a duet. And you think: what a paradise we live in, where politics and culture get along so well, where there is such harmony. Alain Berset, now at the grand piano, has also previously given a truly spiritual performance that is reminiscent of the trumpeter's great career. Erik Truffaz with admiration and wit.

Carlo Balmelli, Mario Batkovic, Lucia Cadotsch, Ensemble Nikel, Sonja Moonear, Katharina Rosenberger, Saadet Türköz, Helvetia rocks, Walcheturm art space, Pronto. - There is also warm applause for all the other winners, and the chic program booklet and the elaborate video recordings of each and every one of them do not need to prove that they all more than deserve this award and the prize money. One can only agree when Erik Truffaz, in his acceptance speech, once again thanks Switzerland for inventing a prize that rewards people who care for the soul.

These differently knitted Helvetian souls also enjoy very different music and musical activities. The majority of the soul food awarded on this evening is urban, experimental, avant-garde and hybrid. (Incidentally, much of it precisely meets the aims of the new cultural message and fulfills à merveille numerous Pro Helvetia funding criteria). And so the local music paradise suddenly seems small. Prizewinner Rosenberger works together with prizewinner Walcheturm, prizewinner Cadotsch is accompanied in her performance by 2014 prizewinner Julian Sartorius, prizewinner Tuffaz has often performed with 2016 prizewinner Sophie Hunger. And he thanks Pro Helvetia for supporting him so often on tour.

The "responsibility towards the sounds" that Mario Batkovic refers to in his speech is something that many others in this country are also aware of. Of course, the top is being celebrated tonight. That is also true. But - truism - the top can only survive on a broad base. And this often has to deal with thorns and thistles, like the exiles from paradise. Keyword school music: the Confederation remains hidden behind clouds of federalism instead of - dream! - to convince the cantons with a flaming sword to provide this subject with solidly trained staff and sufficient compulsory lessons. Amateur music, choirs and music associations would also be fertile and grateful ground for more national attention. So that they could, for example, employ a professionally trained conductor, a voice coach or a choir director on fair terms.

There is a talking sequence in the video about Carlo Balmelli. The Ticino prizewinner stands alone on a stage and conducts. He conducts into the void, there is no wind orchestra present, no base. A cinematic highlight, of course, but nevertheless a frightening performance.

It was nice to spend an evening in paradise. Filled with joy, the national music policy can now think more about how to get the milk and honey flowing a little more abundantly outside the country.

The Tibor Varga competition is held in Sion every two years. It is the most important international competition for violinists under the age of 26 in Switzerland. This year there were 149 registrations, 24 participants were admitted to the first round and 12 to the second. The average age was 21.

The man from Altendorf Raphael Nussbaumer has been able to assert itself against international competition, some of which is much older. Since 2012, he has been taught by Philip A. Draganov, currently at the Bern University of the Arts (HKB).

The competition was won by 14-year-old Seohyun Kim from South Korea, while third prize went to 23-year-old Rennosuke Fukuda from Japan.

The best graduates in the Master Specialized Performance, the highest level of classical music education, are awarded the Eduard Tschumi Prize at the Bern University of the Arts (HKB).

This year, soprano Julia Frischknecht from Christian Hilz's class and violist Lukas Stubenrauch (New Music specialization) received this award. The two each won a prize of 7,000 Swiss francs. Thanks to the Bürgi-Willert Foundation, Frischknecht will have the opportunity to perform as part of the Bern Symphony Orchestra's seasonal program.

 

Originally specializing in Renaissance music, the Ensemble Orlando has developed into a professional vocal ensemble over the course of almost 30 years since it was founded under the direction of Laurent Gendre. Its variable line-up consists of ten to thirty singers. The repertoire stretches back to the 18th century. The ensemble works with various orchestras, performs at home and abroad and has recorded several CDs.

The vocal ensemble is still based in Fribourg. However, some of the singers come from German-speaking Switzerland and the ensemble would like to gain a greater foothold in German-speaking regions in the future. It is also important to him to connect generations. For example, founding members are still singing today, passing on their diverse experience to the young singers who have recently joined the ensemble. It also carried out a project with the University of Music of the University of Applied Sciences of Western Switzerland (HEMU) in 2022. 19 singing students were given an insight into the working methods of a professional choir by performing a concert together with the Ensemble Orlando.

https://orlando-fribourg.ch

 

Almost all cantons are sending their folk music representatives to Bellinzona. Most of the groups come from Ticino (56) and Bern (39), some also from Italy (5).

Formations from A, such as the Alpinis from the Lucerne School of Music, to Z, such as the Zampognari Del Piano, will be performing. They play at 17 different venues, some of them in front of experts.

The Ticino wine festival PerBacco runs parallel to the folk music festival!

Detailed program at bellinzona2023.ch

Three years late, the Kampus Südpol was finally officially inaugurated with a celebration in Lucerne-Kriens. No fewer than eight institutions were involved: Kulturhaus Südpol, Lucerne City Music School, Lucerne Theater, Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, Lucerne University of Music (HSLU), Musik Hug, the Haus der Instrumente and the Werft rehearsal house. What was supposed to be a festival turned out to be more of an "open day" on a campus that is still under construction.

As soon as you arrived, you could see that the campus has by no means grown organically. On one side is the "Südpol", the "oldest" building, an unspectacular structure that houses the Lucerne City Music School, the rehearsal rooms of the Lucerne Theater and two halls for alternative culture. In front of it, the orchestra house of the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, inaugurated in 2020, gleams in silver. Away from these two buildings stands the University of Music, which opened in 2020. So there is no well thought-out site concept.

A remarkable starting position ...

The institutions cover important stages of a musical career and can operate in a network at one location: from basic training to university and creative-professional practice. What sounds so fascinating in theory is a Herculean task in practice, as each segment functions differently and has different needs. September 2 was therefore chosen as the day of celebration, when the university and the LSO are still in summer mode and the rooms are not occupied for the day's work.

The selection of performances over seven hours was huge and ranged from intimate performances by individuals to rehearsals by wind orchestras or a workshop on "hands-on acting training". Rooms were used ranging from the rehearsal stage of the Lucerne Theater and the halls of the music school to those of the symphony orchestra and the university. Individual rehearsal rooms were also occupied. The range of venues available here is astonishing and inspiring.

However, the number of visitors was modest, and there was little sign of a festive atmosphere and hustle and bustle in the buildings. Was it due to a lack of interest or too little advertising? And orientation signs within and between the buildings were rudimentary, you had to work your way through somehow. Nevertheless, it's fair to say that those who didn't come missed a lot, as a tour of the site showed.

... for solo to tutti ...

Visitors were able to meet individual LSO musicians in the rehearsal rooms in the orchestra building. And in the rehearsal hall, over 80 young people from the Lucerne Youth Wind Orchestra, under the direction of their conductor Sandro Blank, presented a one-hour program that they will play at the Swiss Youth Music Festival in St. Gallen.

It was well worth listening to how the young musicians, sometimes as a whole formation, sometimes as soloists, illuminated the facets of brass music and how precisely the percussion instruments performed. Works by Teo Aparicio-Barberán and Amir Malookpour were played - unfortunately there was no program sheet. The acoustics of the hall, which offers optimal conditions for the LSO, were also astonishing.

The music school bakes smaller rolls. Its two halls are not acoustically ideal, but offer a variety of uses. Taster courses for "parent-child singing" were offered in the small hall at the festival, although these attracted little attention. The music school had a varied presence, for example with its band A-la-Ska, which consists of adult amateur musicians. In the small hall, Monica Faé-Leitl presented two recorder groups and demonstrated how she can get even less musical children involved.

The university's clarinet quartet played in the Salquin Hall of the university building, as did young people from the "Talent Promotion Music Canton of Lucerne". They presented their pieces under professional conditions with astonishing fearlessness. Here you could also admire the high-end "HörRaum", which is enriched with a huge vinyl collection and is actively used by students. However, it is a little-known fact that the "HörRaum", just like the library, is also open to non-students.

The Haus der Instrumente (Willisau Musical Instrument Collection until 2022) has just opened near the Kampus, which director Adrian Steger wants to establish as a place for "music and craftsmanship". A collaboration with Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts is already being considered, with a Master's student set to build experimental instruments in the house's studio.

... with regard to the audience

It is precisely this coexistence of young and old, professional and amateur, that makes this campus so special and has such potential. There is enough young talent in the concert business, but a thriving concert landscape also needs an audience that should be drawn to it. Concert halls such as the LSO's rehearsal room or the three halls of the University of Music offer the opportunity to listen to a concert without any threshold fear.

A total of around 700 events are currently held on the campus each year. Cooperation between the institutions has also contributed to this figure and is to be further expanded.

Without in any way detracting from the magic that surrounds choral singing: The fact that the shared singing experience has extremely positive effects on performers and listeners has now been proven by numerous scientific studies. A look behind the scenes of the Zürcher Sing-Akademie, a professional Swiss choir, reveals countless examples of what makes this musical genre and its cultivation so valuable to us.

Choral singing is community

Anne-Kristin Zschunke, a classically trained singer, has been part of the core of the Zurich ensemble and the board for several years. For her, choral singing is first and foremost about community: "It means experiencing emotions together, being able to share an experience with others. As a singer on stage during a concert, recognizing the reactions in the audience, seeing and feeling what our singing does to people is simply wonderful!" The moments in which she can build up a tangible closeness to the audience are particularly valuable for her as an artist.

But the choir members also have to get along with each other. For Florian Helgath - artistic director of the Zürcher Sing-Akademie - a good working atmosphere is essential in order to achieve an exceptional result. "Empathy and sensitivity are needed so that the singers feel free." After all, no instrument is as direct as the human voice, if only because singers always work with text.

The Zürcher Sing-Akademie is an extremely flexible ensemble that brings a wide variety of repertoire to the stage. For Yves Brühwiler, bass, one of the choir's great advantages: "There is so much good music! Sometimes we sing a cappella in an intimate, almost family setting, other times with a large orchestra, well-known soloists and conductors. Every project is new and unique. So not only does the work remain exciting, but the result is always fresh and lively."

In cooperation with various orchestras, the singers of the Zürcher Sing-Akademie are not only on tour within Switzerland, the Swiss ensemble has also earned an excellent reputation abroad. "Of course, it is primarily important for us to cultivate choral music within Switzerland," says Franziska Brandenberger, the ensemble's PR manager. However, the international concert activities, CD recordings on renowned labels and collaboration with major conductors and orchestras are also a way of showing the local audience: "What you hear in our concerts is of distinction and quality."

Fall season 2023

The ensemble has two major projects planned for the fall season. A program of romantic works entitled "Herzgedanken", which also focuses on some lesser-known composers from Switzerland, will be performed in September. The choir can be heard sometimes a cappella, sometimes with piano accompaniment, some pieces are only sung by a delicate female choir, some by a powerful male choir. Such a program is an opportunity for conductor Florian Helgath to challenge his choir, but of course also to let it shine with pieces of music that suit his singers best.

In October, one of the great choral symphonic works is on the program: A German Requiem by Johannes Brahms. The special thing about this performance is that it will take place in cooperation with the Orchestra La Scintilla from Zurich Opera House. A romantic composition interpreted by a historically informed orchestra? "I'm really looking forward to the transparency of the instruments and the creative possibilities that the orchestra brings with it," says Helgath. For Anne-Kristin Zschunke, the Brahms Requiem will be a very special project for other reasons. "You go through grief and its various emotions very directly, but ultimately experience a metamorphosis towards so much hope and consolation. This work makes it tangible that death is nothing terrible or bad, but is part of life - grief, on the other hand, can be resolved or transformed!"

Concert dates

THOUGHTS OF THE HEART
September 14, 7:30 p.m. - Lenzburg Castle
September 15, 7:30 p.m. - Florhof Zurich
September 16, 7.30 p.m. - Rudolf Steiner School Wetzikon

A CHORAL CELEBRATION
October 19, 7:30 p.m.-Tonhalle Zurich

BRAHMS REQUIEM
October 20, 7:30 p.m. - Tonhalle Zurich
October 21, 7:30 p.m. - Stadtcasino Basel
October 22, 11:00 a.m. - French Church Bern

sing-akademie.ch

For his article, Hanspeter Künzler received more or less detailed answers to a number of questions from the music scene. As there was not enough space in the printed Swiss Music Newspaper As he is limited in his work, he was only able to publish some of the feedback in his text. Here is the complete feedback in alphabetical order.

Adrian Weyermann, musician

What was your relationship to the hit parade as a 12- and 18-year-old - and today? Are you still interested in the hit parade at all?

I had my big high times with the "bestsellers on the turntable" between 1978 and 1982, when I was between 4 and 8 years old. I could hardly wait for Sunday:

Boney M. with Rivers of Babylon, Blondie Call Me, Stevie Wonder Master Blaster, Robert Palmer Johnny and Mary. For me, this is the deepest musical childhood.

As a 12 to 18-year-old, I didn't really care about the hit parade, my heart was already beating more independently. Although as a musician, I was always kind of in between even then. Too bulky for the hit parade, too pop for the indies.

Seven years ago, when I was writing my last album for the Weyers, I tried to listen through the Top 40 just to know what people are listening to today. Unfortunately, 99 % of the songs made my skin crawl. Too bad. So I came to the conclusion that it's probably not for me (anymore). Today, I always listen to current hits from my daughters' rooms that I somehow like.

In the glorious sixties and well into the seventies, we all followed the hit parade, even if we had long hair and smoked pot. What does the hit parade audience look like today?

Sometimes perhaps like my daughters, often quite different, I think.

To what extent was/is the hit parade a driving force for your work with The Weyers?

I would say that the measurability of success (clicks, likes, social media, chart positions) almost ruined my enjoyment of music. That's why I consciously left the professional music business as an artist/songwriter five years ago after a burnout and have been an enthusiastic music teacher ever since.

Are click figures more important today than the hit parade? If so, what are the consequences?

See above ...

 

Andreas Rohrer, presenter of "Sounds!", SRF 3

I'll keep it short and sweet!

What was your relationship to the hit parade as a 12- and 18-year-old - and today? Are you still interested in the hit parade at all?

At 12: Great entertainment and information value. Listened to in the car every winter Sunday on the way home from the mountains.

At 18: The hit parade was a yardstick for what was generally considered musically relevant and good. But it was relativized by alternatives.

Today: irrelevant

In the glorious sixties and well into the seventies, we all followed the hit parade, even if we had long hair and smoked pot. What does the hit parade audience look like today?

Like Alexander Blunschi

If you ever made music, was the hit parade a kind of beacon or was it more of a deterrent?

For my guitar and vocal skills, which are not worth mentioning, the grunge and pop-punk of the 90s had a big influence, i.e. things that were in the charts at the time.

Are click numbers and likes more important today than the hit parade? If so, what are the consequences?

I think so. The hit parade no longer exists as a gatekeeper. Distribution is more important than sales. The fact that the charts include streams doesn't change their current status.

 

Andreas Ryser, record company manager, musician

What was your relationship to the hit parade as a 12- and 18-year-old - and today? Are you still interested in the hit parade at all?

I recorded the hit parade on cassette as a 12-year-old, made my own covers with photos from Bravo or Pop RockyWhen I was 18, I was already pretty fed up with the Beastie Boys and Living Color. Today I only watch the charts when someone tells us that we're in the album charts with our acts because we've sold a few records ... singles charts, nope ...

In the glorious sixties and well into the seventies, we all followed the hit parade, even if we had long hair and smoked pot. What does the hit parade audience look like today?

Since the hit parade is filled with Tiktok virals, which perform very well on the streaming services and thus determine the charts, this is not so much our construction site, hit parades are then simply the top 100 in the world.

To what extent was/is the hit parade a driving force for your work with Filewile today?

No drive. The singles charts have become so global that you don't really have a chance of being on them. Of course, this primarily has to do with the fact that streaming services, such as Spotify, do very little for local music markets. As a result, the charts are much more globalized than they used to be.

Are click figures more important today than the hit parade? If so, what are the consequences?

Of course, charts are still the driving force behind getting onto the big commercial radio stations. The charts differ very little from the Spotify charts. This means that all the charts on streaming services or Tiktok and YouTube are much more relevant, also because a lot of additional usage can happen there if the song is in the charts. Radio used to be something like the communication of most sales, so it was actually a product of the music industry to sell even more music that was already selling very well ...

Of course, we realize that it has a big impact when we have results, for example when we appear in big playlists, concerts are sold out or the groups have a lot of followers. Because people are just very bored and what is heard and seen a lot is automatically considered good.

Funnily enough, this is a phenomenon that is also gaining ground in the indie scene. No matter how experimental the music, we can use reach arguments to get even more reach and thus boost an artist. Just like the purpose of the hit parade. One of the best strategies of all when it comes to live performances is this: It's super important to sell out a few shows quickly, then communicate this over and over again, so you can sell more tickets much faster and better, and social media is of course very helpful.

Annakin, musician

What was your relationship to the hit parade as a 12- and 18-year-old - and today? Are you still interested in the hit parade at all?

In my teenage years, the hit parade was of course an eagerly awaited weekly event. I watched the German hit parade on TV every Saturday evening and at the same time got ready to go out with lots of hairspray. The hit parade heralded the start of the weekend, as we still had school on Saturday mornings. A little later, the hit parade came on Sunday on DRS 3. It was the time when Depeche Mode's Enjoy the Silence and Sinéad O'Connors I do not want what I havent't got were in the charts, both are still great idols for me today. Today, I'm still interested in the charts because I've had the honor of being represented in them with all my albums. But I no longer actively listen to them.

In the glorious sixties and well into the seventies, we all followed the hit parade, even if we had long hair and smoked pot. What does the hit parade audience look like today?  

I think everything has changed massively. Today's kids look different because they have different idols. Today it's the Billie Eilish slob look, as my godson once put it, and in the past the equivalent was perhaps punk and then grunge. It used to be the poppers with gelled hair and today people love the nerds, like Ed Sheeran or Lewis Capaldi. I think it's a nice and above all tolerant development.

Perhaps the hit parade used to be a special event because it was a kind of first playlist that you got to hear. Apart from at the disco, there was no easy way to listen to all your favorite songs in a row back then. You always had to change the tape, CD or record first. One of the first forms of playlist was probably recording on cassette. But you were always too late and usually only pressed the recording button when the song had already started.

 To what extent was/is the hit parade a driving force for your work today?

It's not really a driving force, but I still think it's cool when an album or a song of mine charts.

Are click figures more important today than the hit parade? If so, what are the consequences?

That may be. But I find this tendency problematic because the click figures often don't reflect the truth and they only really generate money if you have an infinite number of clicks.

 

Brandy Butler, musician

How was your relationship with the "hit parade" as a 12- and an 18-year-old? And today? Are you interested in the charts at all today?

When I was 12, I would come home every day after school and watch MTV live. I wouldn't say that I recognized that what I was watching was more or less the charts, but I definitely was interested in what music was popular at that time for social reasons. By the time I was 18, I was in college and no longer watching MTV for the charts. The internet was still in its baby form but downloading platforms like Napster had just started. And so, the charts were more like what was everyone downloading off of the platforms.

Today I am no longer interested in the charts as we have known them at all, except that I watch a lot of old chart-reruns (like Soul Train and Dick Clark's Bandstand) with my dad who has dementia. These days I understand that the charts were/are basically a tool run by the major labels to advertise their products. Even streaming platforms. The major playlists have secret curators, and often they are the major labels. I do think what is interesting is how social media can make a song jump to internet stardom based on how people interact with a song. But still, the charts are just a curated playlist. I prefer to make my own.

During the "glorious" 60s up to the mid-70s, we all (I mean people my age, not you!) followed the charts, even if we had long hair and smoked dope. Who follows the charts today?

I don't think people actively follow the charts anymore. The charts were a kind of reference to what you should be listening to and therefore buying. With the start of streaming apps and curated playlists, this lost its relevance. You can listen to literally all the music all the time for 15.- CHF a month, and if you don't know what you like an algorithm will just automatically pick it for you.

Have the charts ever been a motivational force in your work?

Never ever. I think to make a chart hit in most cases your goal has to be to appeal to the most amount of people possible. In my case I make music for myself, simply because I love to, so that doesn't really give me a lot of mass appeal. (It does give me really true fans, but I think I would fall more under niche music than anything).

Is the number of clicks more important today than the charts? If so, what are the consequences?

Are clicks more important than plays? I think already there you're showing your age. 😉 Most people don't have mouses anymore, so clicks is not a term from the most current generation. Streams and likes are much more important. They are the currency of social media, and in that world, they are worth a lot. You can translate it into sponsorships and ads all which have the potential to generate revenue. However, they also come with barriers. You need access to the playlists or have platform algorithms that push your music (like the major labels do). And still even with all that, it doesn't necessarily translate outside that world to money. The average payment for a stream is .00002.

I think it could be interesting in today's world to redefine what charts are and how they could be calculated. But I think the day of charts are kind of over. The internet makes its own recommendations based on the trends, but this can last literally from a day to a few weeks. Usually within a month it is no longer cool to even like that song.

 

 Daniela Sarda, musician

What was your relationship to the hit parade as a 12- and 18-year-old - and today?

As a 12 to 18-year-old, I generally listened to a lot of music. As I was generally interested in music, I naturally had my favorite albums, which I always listened to regardless of the hit parade. The hit parade had more influence on certain trends and the fact that you really liked certain songs for a while. But it didn't influence my personal taste in music. Nowadays, I don't listen to Hit Parade anymore, if I do, I listen to Pop Brandneu or Fresh Finds on Spotify to discover new releases.

 Are you still interested in the hit parade at all?

I'm not interested in the hit parade at the moment.

In the glorious sixties and well into the seventies, we all followed the hit parade, even if we had long hair and smoked pot. What does the hit parade audience look like today?

I think musical tastes have become much more individualized. I could imagine that people who consume music casually still listen to charts, but young people put together their own playlists on Spotify. I took a quick look at the current Swiss hit parade, I still know two or three names from it (Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo).

 To what extent was/is the hit parade a driving force for your work today?

 For my current work, the hit parade was not so relevant, perhaps more for the feeling of togetherness that you had when everyone sang the same song and could dance to it. Even as a young singer, my work was inspired by soul, R'n'B or canzoni, music that wasn't always present in the charts.

Are click figures more important today than the hit parade? If so, what are the consequences?

Both are important. Aren't many artists still trying to get into the charts? Or is this perhaps still a tool of the major labels to be consumed and bought by the masses? Click numbers (likes?) once again represent the interest of individual music listeners, their individual tastes, and give special music styles and niches a platform that would not exist in the charts.

 

Luca Bruno, presenter of "Sounds!", SRF 3

 What was your relationship to the hit parade as a 12- and 18-year-old - and today? Are you still interested in the hit parade at all?

As a 12 and 18-year-old, I wasn't interested in the hit parade at all. Before that, between the ages of 6 and 10, I was a huge fan and was glued to the radio for four hours every Sunday afternoon. I even got myself a Walkman with a radio tuner so that I could listen in on the go. I recorded a few issues on cassette and listened to them over and over again. The hit parade presenter on DRS 3 was also about the biggest star I could imagine.

Today, I don't really care about the album charts, partly because physical sales have fallen so far that even three-digit sales figures are enough for a top 10 position. I still find the singles charts interesting because they're still a relatively good indicator of what's popular at the moment.

In the glorious sixties and well into the seventies, we all followed the hit parade, even if we had long hair and smoked pot. What does the hit parade audience look like today?

Only hip-hop fanatics and ultra-fans of Popstars still regularly watch the charts. Circles in which high chart positions still really make an impression - and the various fanbases engage in streaming wars and races over them. Hip-hop acts are still "bluffing" with chart positions - in the alternative circle, of course, this is completely irrelevant.

Are click numbers and likes more important today than the hit parade? If so, what are the consequences?

Definitely. Although the aim of the charts should actually be to be congruent with the streaming figures. Nevertheless, I find the Spotify charts, where you can see exactly how often a song has been streamed, a lot more transparent than the charts, whose calculation key is still pretty nebulous.

 

Michael von der Heide, musician

What was your relationship to the hit parade as a 12- and 18-year-old - and today? Are you still interested in the hit parade at all?

Of course I loved the hit parade as a teenager. I recorded it every Sunday and, like most people, got annoyed when the presenter snorted into the intro or outro. I still have many of the cassettes. It was always incredibly exciting, of course. Like the Eurovision Song Contest, you get annoyed when your favorite song doesn't make it to one or falls out of the top 10 again, and, and, and! But that time totally shaped me.

I followed the hit parade for a long time as an interested musician to see what was still going on. But I'd say I gave up in the last four or five years. There was a lot of music that didn't appeal to me at all, and I realized that I had dropped out of the race, which makes me feel relaxed.

It was never really a big issue for my music. As you can hear on my first album, I never chased after the mainstream musically. I certainly had the odd song that I thought might be suitable for radio. And of course I was delighted when my album Tourist reached number 5 in 2000. Or that I've been in the charts again and again in recent years, even though I'm completely independent as far as record companies are concerned, because I have my own. I'm pleased about that, but it's actually irrelevant. The audience at the concerts doesn't care whether the album is in the charts or not.

Are click numbers and likes more important today than the hit parade? If so, what are the consequences?

The click figures don't affect me much. Right now I have a single with Eve Gallagher where we have wonderful click figures, which everyone is happy about, including me, but that's really totally unimportant for my work, for my music, at the moment.

In the glorious sixties and well into the seventies, we all followed the hit parade, even if we had long hair and smoked pot. What does the hit parade audience look like today?

I suppose I look like I did in the 80s, styled like I was in the 80s. I don't know that many young people today, but they don't listen to the hit parade. I don't know who's really still into it. They listen to Spotify and playlists.

 

Stefan Künzli, music editor at CH-Media

Did the hit parade mean anything to you as a child?

Absolutely! I started in '71, when I was 9, very young, and it had a big impact on me, it was almost the only thing you could hear on Swiss radio back then. The hit parade was very important and formative for me. Not anymore today, of course.

When did that change?

Gradually, in the 70s, when I went in the direction of jazz. Then I wasn't so interested anymore. But I still kept up with what was going on. It was still relevant at the time in that it showed what the most successful songs were, which in turn had an effect on album sales. You can no longer do that today. It's become quite difficult to keep track of it all.

And people were really happy when a Swiss band was in the charts.

I didn't notice much of that. Pepe Lienhard, Sheila Baby, Swiss Lady. And of course Heavenly ClubI think that was in the first Swiss hit parade year.

Do you have memories of certain hit parade songs?

I can remember it pretty clearly. I really soaked it up. Suzi Quatro, for example, terrific, Sweet, Slade, that was the line back then as a teenager. And Deep Purple, Black Nightthe first hard things - I still like them today ...

Toni Vescoli, musician

What was it like for you back then when "Heavenly Club" reached number 1?

That was a crazy summer, of course. We were on tour, as Sauterelles, together with Arlette Zola, one evening she first, the other we. Of course we were curious to see if Heavenly Club would be in the charts. And indeed, it wasn't long before we were in, and the record went up and up and suddenly it was number 1. Christoph Schwegler said: "well, well, well, and at number 1, Les Sauterelles!" Of course that was huge for us. We knew Christoph well personally, he always came to Atlantis when we played there.

It was a crazy thing, and the fact that we stayed in first place for six weeks was a bit of a sensation at the time. It made us very happy. On the other hand, it also tore me apart a bit, because my daughter Natalie was born at exactly the same time as we were in the hit parade. I soon didn't know what I should find more relaxed, hahaha! But the birth of my daughter was more relaxed!

To what extent was the hit parade a driving force for you, before and after the hit?

Drive - of course, as a band we had the feeling that it would be cool if we got into the charts. But we actually just wanted to make records. Heavenly Club wasn't even our favorite. Actually, we should have Montgolfier wanted to be a hit. But of course you think that you would like to have a hit.

Was there pressure from the record company to repeat the formula after the hit?

We weren't under any pressure from the record company. But it was slightly tragic anyway, because soon after the tour we went on, the band started to crumble apart. Düde Dürst, the drummer, started jamming with Hardy Hepp, and at some point he left, in 1968. It was a pity, we could have made a big start in Germany after a record conference in Hamburg. But nothing came of it. I carried on with the Sauterelles, but soon went it alone. It was no longer interesting financially either. The whole scene had changed. The clubs. There were no more week-long engagements, you had to do one-off gigs.

Wasn't it considered uncool in the progressive environment to appear in the charts?

Well, in 1968 we weren't actually in a progressive scene. I would rather say that would have been Düde mit Krokodil. But the Sauterelles were more of a commercial thing anyway, so it wasn't at all uncool to have a hit. It became much more difficult when I entered the charts in the mid-70s, first with the Pfäfflithen Scho root. A few people have already said (mimicking a Bernese accent): "Aha, you're in the hit parade now, aren't you?"

The Bernese Troubadours thought it was pretty bad that a so-called singer-songwriter was now in the hit parade. That was very unusual at the time. Mani Matter and all the others never made the hit parade. Then this Vescoli comes along with the Züri-Schnure and sweeps everything away, hahaha. I followed the hit parade in the 60s, at the time of Heavenly Clubbut not so much later on. When I made my own songs in Swiss German, the hit parade wasn't so important anymore.

 

Table of contents

Focus

Trust yourself and encourage others
Interview with Nicole Johänntgen

Keeping the inner fire burning
Prevent listlessness when learning music

The hit parade: career driver, cult and commerce
Incentive and frustration of the charts
Statements by Adrian Weyermann, Andreas Rohrer, Andreas Ryser, Annakin, Brandy Butler, Daniela Sarda, Luca Bruno, Michael von der Heide, Stefan Künzli and Toni Vescoli

Capturing the forest air in music
What drove composers from different eras?

The "immortal lover" in Solothurn?
A previously unknown entry in a hotel register

 (italics = summary in German of the original French article)

 

Critiques

Reviews of recordings, books, sheet music

 

Echo

La musique contemporaine dans les grands festivals
Grand plan de Verbier à Lucerne

Sounding byways through the bushes
Rümlingen Festival in Ticino

Picture a day like this
Opéra de George Benjamin

Radio Francesco
La chimère | The Chimera

Do not compromise, nevertheless remain understandable
Martin Derungs - Obituary

A pioneer of choral singing
Verena Scheidegger - Obituary

Ecouter la voix des apprenants
Le concept de " Learner Voice " à Lausanne

Chatting about ...
Ensemble foundation and management

Carte blanche fFor Andreas Wiedmer
Individual performance fuels the collective

Base

Articles and news from the music associations

Swiss Federal Orchestra Association (EOV) / Société Fédérale des Orchestres (SFO)

Konferenz Musikhochschulen Schweiz (KMHS) / Conférence des Hautes Ecoles de Musique Suisse (CHEMS)

Kalaidos University of Music / Kalaidos Haute École de Musique

Swiss Music Council (SMR) / Conseil Suisse de la Musique (CSM)

CHorama

Swiss Society for Music Medicine (SMM) / Association suisse de Médecine de la Musique (SMM)

Swiss Musicological Society (SMG) / Société Suisse de Musicologie (SSM)

Swiss Musicians' Association (SMV) / Union Suisse des Artistes Musiciens (USDAM)

Schweizerischer Musikpädagogischer Verband (SMPV) / Société Suisse de Pédagogie Musicale (SSPM)

SONART - Musicians Switzerland

Swiss Youth Music Competition Foundation (SJMW)

Arosa Culture

SUISA - Cooperative Society of Authors and Publishers of Music

Swiss Association of Music Schools (VMS) / Association Suisse des Écoles de Musique (ASEM)

 

Child prodigy and triple muse
Puzzle by Chris Walton

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