Works for flute solo

The cover photograph of this new Genuin CD is more than an overused visual ornament: for it refers to a long-held desire of Swiss flutist Felix Renggli. Renggli fashions a breathtaking bridge that, close to hovering free and almost defying gravity, leads from the earliest literature for solo flute heard in Johann Sebastian Bach’s A minor Partita to the works of contemporary composer Heinz Holliger. As the only supporting column he also performs Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach’s A minor sonata, whose immediacy and unconventional melodic and harmonic twists and turns are also heard in the works of Holliger. Holliger’s highly connotative and frequently humorous music calls for a virtuoso player like Renggli, who makes full use of the possibilities offered by the instrument and the most recent performance techniques. At the same time the contents are linked again and again to the past—can you too hear Bach’s famous Badinerie in Holliger’s Sonate (in)solit(aire) in the unlikely guise of whistle tones? In the unaffected brilliance of the solo instrument you, too, can experience just how much baroque music there is in postmodernism!

"An exciting journey through time, thrillingly presented by Renggli and his colleagues with sensitive musicality and artistic wit." (Fono Forum 1/2009)