CD ECM Records Heinz Holliger: Machaut-Transkriptionen

The Hilliard Ensemble
David James Countertenor
Rogers Covey-Crump Tenor
Steven Harrold Tenor
Gordon Jones Baritone
Geneviève Strosser Viola
Jürg Dähler Viola
Muriel Cantoreggi Viola

Swiss composer Heinz Holliger’s Machaut-Transkriptionen is comprised of a spacious cycle of pieces written over a ten year period beginning in 2001. An imaginative re-investigation of the work of the great 14th century French composer-poet Guillaume de Machaut, it is scored for four voices and three violas. Note-for-note transcriptions of Machaut give way to Holliger’s increasingly creative refractions of the music. As Holliger notes, his in-depth study of Machaut opened up new vistas for his compositional activity and his admiration for the source material is mirrored in the outstanding performances of the violists and singers. The Machaut-Transkriptionen proves a perfect vehicle for the Hilliard Ensemble’s set skills as interpreters of both old and new music, and this recording, made in 2010 in Zürich, captures the vocal group at the heights of its powers. (Their own affinity for Machaut is also documented on their album of his Motets, ECM New Series 1823).

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The transcriptions project has Mr. Holliger’s customary, total elegance, as well as a tenderness that reaches, composer to composer, across centuries. The performers are attentive and passionate, and the recorded sound vivid enough to capture the violists’ intakes of breath as they cue each other.
Zachary Woolfe, NYTimes.com

Don’t come to this disc expecting a Pulcinella-style romp through the 14th-century French composer Guillaume de Machaut’s greatest hits; Heinz Holliger’s realisations are highly imaginative, and a long way from the originals. […] an alluring, deeply mysterious disc. Fantastic viola playing from Geneviève Strosser, Jürg Dähler and Muriel Cantoreggi.
Graham Rickson, The Arts Desk
 
Heinz Holliger’s Machaut-Transkriptionen is a cycle of nine pieces written over an extended period, the vocal pieces of which start out as note for note transcriptions of Machaut’s originals, the works for three violas exploring, adapting, deconstructing, fragmenting and transforming these vocal pieces to create new music […] Sublimely recorded and performed with exactly the right kind of ethereal commitment, this is indeed a fascinating meeting between the aesthetics of remote and disparate ages.
Dominy Clements, Music Web International