Holliger / Beethoven / Wyttenbach: Piano Works [Lifelines]

Heinz Holliger, the exceptional oboist, pianist and composer, did not compose anything for piano for almost 40 years after his 1961 work “Elis – Drei Nachtstücke”. A whole series of musical homages and birthday greetings composed since the beginning of the 21st century was then published in 2019 under the Schumann-esque title “Albumblätter” and is performed here in its entirety for the first time by Kirill Zvegintsov. These are highly intricate, typically Holliger cabinet pieces with various references, which are knowledgeably explained in the booklet text. These works are combined with early and late piano works by the Swiss composer and pianist Jürg Wyttenbach, who died in 2021 and shared a close musical relationship with Holliger. In the final years of his life, this expert in new music undertook the daring task of completing Beethoven's sketches for an alternative third movement to the Piano Sonata op. 109 – an undertaking that only a pianist and composer of such professional standing could undertake. In his final days, Wyttenbach was still able to witness the premiere of this reconstruction by Zvegintsov. The Ukrainian pianist here combines and confronts this experiment with the modern original works in an inspiring way.