Simple and artistic combined
A booklet for two violins that offers the simple original form and colorful duet versions of Swiss folk songs.
18 well-known Swiss-German folk songs and one each in Romansh and Italian are recorded here in one voice with all available verses. In the second part of the booklet, the composer takes the liberty of imitating the great composer Béla Bartók and succeeds in transforming the simple melodies into imaginatively arranged, emotionally charged, canonic or pictorial violin duets. Both voices have a part in the melody. Most of the music is easy to play in the first position. However, Birrer does not shy away from chromatic, canonic, double-stopping, bitonal or syncopated escapades, so that even advanced players are challenged in some of the duets and experience many humorous surprises.
Myriam Birrer, Schweizer Volkslieder, 20 violin duets between tradition and modernity, M&S 2261, Fr. 28.00, Müller & Schade, Bern 2014
