Franziska Andrea Heinzen & Benjamin Mead - Eugen Meier: Lieder us um Tal (2022) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

This recording by the Swiss soprano Franziska Heinzen, accompanied by the pianist Benjamin Mead, is on the one hand a declaration of love to Franziska Heinzen's home canton of Valais, and on the other hand a homage to the art of Swiss song: the starting point is the song cycle "Lieder us um Tal" (1981) by Eugen Meier on Valais German poems by Hannes Taugwalder (1910-2007), which is thematically expanded with selected songs by Swiss composers of the last two centuries.

The sparse but onomatopoeic verses by Hannes Taugwalder, who grew up in the Valais mountain village of Zermatt, loosely describe everyday situations of simple mountain life, reflecting fresh, old or past love, a sense of home, a sense of destiny, a connection with nature or a longing for something different. The poems derive their special charm from the Valais German dialect, which, as a High Alemannic dialect within the Swiss German High Alemannic, forms a cultural treasure of its own. The geographical location of the canton of Valais, surrounded by over 40 four-thousand-metre peaks, preserves this actively spoken German dialect to this day.

Eugen Meier's thirteen "Lieder us um Tal" are effectively complemented with other songs by Swiss composers from the 19th and 20th centuries (Joachim Raff, Othmar Schoeck), but also with contemporary compositions by Heinz Holliger or Isabel Mundry, for example.

Tracklist:
01. D Chiäjeri
02. Wela Wäg
03. Ds Hittuliechtje
04. Dr Schüelschatz
05. Dr Blüüsuchnopf
06. Herbschtwind
07. Bärgwinter
08. Imbitz plaanu
09. Miin Brief
10. Ds Glasji Wii
11. Dr Wägwiiser
12. Weischus dü_
13. D Miisch


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