A "little alpine symphony"

Meinrad Schütter (1910-2006) is one of the most unconventional Swiss composers and remained an outsider throughout his life. He was born in Chur, studied at the Zurich Conservatory and later with Willy Burkhard and Paul Hindemith. As a composer, however, Meinrad Schütter remained largely self-taught.

Based on his early role models Othmar Schoeck, Igor Stravinsky and Paul Hindemith, he explored row techniques under the influence of Luigi Dallapiccola and found his own tonal language through neoclassical tendencies, which cannot be assigned to any particular direction. For thirty years, Meinrad Schütter worked at the Zurich Opera House as a ballet accompanist and lighting conductor. As a composer, he left behind an extensive oeuvre of orchestral compositions, chamber music, song and choral works as well as the opera Medea. You can find out more about him and his work on the website meinrad-schuetter.chwhich is operated and continuously updated by the Meinrad-Schütter-Gesellschaft, founded in 2002.

The Gommer Suite (Dix miniatures valaisannes) for flute, violin and viola was commissioned by the Bonn-based Trio Diletto Musicale in 1999 and premiered by them as part of the Goms Evening Music Festival in the small baroque church in Niederwald. Meinrad Schütter loved the Goms, where he often spent his vacations and went on hikes into old age.

The ten miniatures of the Gommer Suite - The composer jokingly called them his "little Alpine symphony" - are written in a harsh, colorful and transparent tonal language. It is a natural lyricism tracing the alpine landscape, composed in strict movements or in finely structured, loosened canons with briefly appearing church music quotations: A strong castle and Adeste fideles. The humor that belongs to Schütter is not missing either: in the final waltz, the composer was inspired by an old tomcat!

In terms of its duration (around ten minutes) and level of difficulty, this work is also suitable for interested advanced amateurs. In contrast to other compositions by Meinrad Schütter, the short and varied character pieces are easy to understand, even for inexperienced listeners.

The edition published by Berner Musikverlag Müller & Schade offers score and parts without instrumental arrangement. Due to the brevity of the movements, the score can be arranged as a playing score with a little tinkering.

Meinrad Schütter: Gommer Suite, Dix miniatures valaisannes for flute, violin and viola, M&S 2354, Fr. 28.00, Müller & Schade, Bern 2016