Impressionistic sound refinement

The Aargau pianist Beata Wetli has published a small anthology of Aargau composers from the 19th and 20th centuries under the title Aargau hikes recorded. It is immediately audible how predestined the piano has been since the early Romantic period to create a poetic atmosphere, to parade, dream, narrate, fantasize and capture moods even for less spectacular soundscapes. Pictorial and poetic are the most fitting attributes of this recording, which, in addition to a great stylistic variety - from early Romantic tonal language to late Romantic-Impressionist suggestions to neo-classical sound structures, everything can be heard - also offers first recordings.

The focus is on the 22 short piano pieces From a hike (op.17) von Werner Wehrli. Sein meisterlicher Zyklus steht synonym für den programmatischen Titel der CD. Daneben sind auch Werke von Friedrich Theodor Fröhlich, Ernst Widmer, Emil Frey, Walther Geier, Ernest Bloch, von Busoni-Meisterschüler Robert Blum und glücklicherweise auch von Multitalent Peter Mieg zu hören. Und es ist zugleich klar, dass manche Komponisten nicht berücksichtigt wurden wie Carl Attenhofer, Hermann Suter oder Heinrich Sutermeister.

This may be regrettable at first. But in view of the urgency of Wetli's impressionistic refinement of sound, which is also captured very favorably in terms of sound technology, one can hope that a follow-up edition is planned with other composers. It would be desirable. Aargau offers an inexhaustible source of piano music spanning 150 years. In any case, this recording whets the appetite for more.