swiss symphony in focus
CHF
About The Programme
Johann Carl Eschmann from Winterthur studied with Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Ignaz Moscheles in Leipzig before working as a piano teacher and composer in his hometown as well as in Schaffhausen and Zurich. He belonged to Richard Wagner’s inner circle and was also friends with Johannes Brahms, who held him in high esteem as a composer. Eschmann’s works were stylistically influenced by Robert Schumann and Felix Mendelssohn. Nevertheless, he developed his own musical language at an early age, with unexpected rhythmic subtleties and harmonic twists and turns. His Grand Concert Overture of 1847 is one of his early compositions and remained (unfortunately) his only work for orchestra.
In contrast to Eschmann, Frank Martin from the French-speaking part of Switzerland is one of the better-known personalities among Swiss composers. At the request of his parents, he began to study mathematics and physics in Geneva, but devoted himself more and more to composition. In Geneva he then worked closely with Emile Jaques-Dalcroze and founded the “Société de musique de chambre” to cultivate the music of the 17th and 18th centuries. In addition to his great vocal works, Martin composed sophisticated instrumental music. For example, the Three Dances for oboe, harp, string quintet and string orchestra with their flamenco rhythms. “Trois Danses” was first performed on 9 October 1970 in Zurich under the baton of Paul Sacher with soloists Heinz and Ursula Holliger.
After the interval, Johannes Brahms‘ third symphony builds a bridge to the romantic beginning of this concert. His 3rd symphony was composed in 1883 and thus falls into the period of the so-called “music dispute” between representatives of the New German School, who saw the future of music in symphonic tone poetry and programme music, and the advocates of “absolute” music free of extra-musical content, to whom Brahms also belonged. The latter were of the opinion that music should not be measured by programmatic statements but solely by inner-musical artistic claims, as was customary in Viennese classical music. Not surprisingly, therefore, the response to this work was divided. While some rejected it, others went into raptures. Thus Antonín Dvořák wrote to his publisher Simrock “What wonderful melodies are to be found there! It is pure love, and one’s heart opens up to it”. And Clara Schumann wrote to Brahms: “…every movement is a jewel! – How bewitched one is from beginning to end by this mysterious magic…”
Lineup
SWISS ORCHESTRA
LENA-LISA WÜSTENDÖRFER, conductor
HEINZ HOLLIGER, oboe
ALICE BELUGOU, harp
programme
JOHANN CARL ESCHMANN (1826–1882)
Grand Concert Overture
FRANKMARTIN (1890–1974)
Three Dances for oboe, harp, string quintet and string orchestra
JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833–1897)
Symphony No. 3, op. 90
Tonhalle
Zurich
How to get there
BY PUBLIC TRANSPORT
Tram lines 6, 7, 8, 13, 17 to Stockerstrasse
Tram lines 2, 5, 8, 9, 11 to Bürkliplatz
Bus lines 161, 165 to Bürkliplatz
BY CAR
Parkgarage Bleicherweg
Park Hyatt Zurich
barrier-free access
The Tonhalle Zürich is barrier-free. The hall floor of the big and small Tonhalle can be reached via an elevator, which is located between the entrance hall and the vestibule on the left side.
PARKING SPACES
There are 8 parking spaces for people with wheelchairs on Gotthardstrasse, 6 of which are directly to the right of the entrance to Tonhalle Zürich (entrance T) and 2 of them are across the street.
WHEELCHAIR SPACES
In the Grosse Tonhalle, 8 wheelchair spaces are available on the parquet floor.
In the Kleine Tonhalle, there are 3 wheelchair spaces available on the parquet floor.
Accompanying persons receive a free ticket.
Please register with the ticket office no later than four days before the concert, by e-mail or by calling +41 44 206 34 34.
VISUAL IMPAIRMENT
Concert-goers with visual disabilities who arrive with an accompanying person will receive a free ticket for the accompanying person. On request, concert-goers with visual disabilities who arrive without an accompanying person will be accompanied from the entrance to their seat by a TGZ employee and picked up again after the concert. Please register with the ticket office no later than four days before the concert, by e-mail or by calling +41 44 206 34 34.
GUIDE OR ASSISTANCE DOGS
During the concert, guide dogs can be safely and comfortably stored in a dog crate in the cloakroom. To bring assistance dogs, please contact the ticket office team so that we can find a solution together. Please register with the ticket office no later than four days before the concert, by e-mail or by calling +41 44 206 34 34.
Garderobe
evening ticket office
Doors open / late entry
Discount
Students and trainees up to 30 years of age as well as KulturLegi owners receive a 50% discount.
Heinz Holliger is one of the most versatile, extraordinary Swiss musical personalities. He is one of the world’s most significant oboe virtuosos as well as being one of the most famous contemporary Swiss composers and a celebrated conductor.
Born in Langenthal in Canton Bern, Holliger studied the oboe in Bern with Emile Castagnaud and in Paris with Pierre Pierlot. Since 1963 he has been performing as a freelance soloist, setting new standards on his instrument. Contemporary composers have written works especially for him, including Hans Werner Henze, Krzysztof Penderecki, György Ligeti, Elliott Carter, Witold Lutoslawski, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Luciano Berio. Holliger is also the dedicatee of Frank Martin’s Three dances, which he premiered in 1970.
Heinz Holliger performs with the leading orchestras, including the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Philharmonia London, the Vienna Symphony and Philharmonic Orchestras, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Frankfurt Symphony Orchestra and the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra.
The harpist Alice Belugou was born in Rouen in 1991. She began her studies at the Sorbonne in Paris and the Pôle Supérieur de Paris Boulogne-Billancourt, then moved on to Letizia Belmondo to qualify as Master in Music Performance at the Haute École de Musique Lausanne, where she was awarded the Special Prize for Excellent Master Concerts in 2015, and then completed a Master’s degree in Music Pedagogy and a Minor in Contemporary Music at Basel Academy of Music.
She attended master classes with Isabelle Moretti, Fabrice Pierre, Catherine Michel, Frédérique Cambreling and Marie-Pierre Langlamet, and worked with composers such as Georges Aperghis, Mark André, Heinz Holliger, William Blank, Jennifer Walshe, and Simon Steen-Andersen.
Since 2015 she has performed at various festivals in Europe as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestral musician: Lucerne Festival, Zeiträume, Archipelago (CH), Manifeste (FR), New Direction (SW), ON Cologne (DE), Microtonality Basel, Darmstadt Summer Courses, Tage für neue Musik Zurich, Kontakte Berlin, Rümlingen festival (CH).
In 2017 Alice won a scholarship from the Fritz Gerber Foundation, and in 2018 second prize at the DHF world harp competition.
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