Swiss Folk Instruments – Wind Instruments (I) (MH 57/1978)

swissmusic

Remeber when, as children, you would try to blow tunes on a blade of grass or a leaf squeezed between your fingers?

It was one of the simplest and most primitive ways of making music. But there are folk musicians in Switzerland still practising this art today. This edition traces the role of wind instruments of all forms in Swiss folk music. From the most elementary of instruments, an ivy leaf, to virtuoso woodwinds in conventional country bands.

Musical content

1. Ivy leaf (folk tune)
(Trad.)
Performed by Justus Waldis
2. Pear leaf (folk tune)
(Trad.)
Performed by Agatha Loher
3. May pipe (Muotathal folk tune)
(Trad.)
Performed by Joseph Felchlin
4. Bone pipe
Paleolithic Period
Performed by Raymond Meylan
5. Bone flute
Bronze Age
Performed by Raymond Meylan
6. Bone pipe
Roman Period
Performed by Raymond Meylan
7. Marble fife (goat call)
(Trad.)
Perfomed by Tista Murk
8. Marble fife (folk tune)
(Trad.)
Perfomed by Tista Murk
9. Schwäbelpfyffe – Swabian fife, with accordion (Am Gössi Albert sinä)
(K. Geisser)
Performed by Alois Heinzer
10. Recorder with mouth organ (Gütterli Tanz – traditional dance)
Performed by the Buure Musig, Brunnen
11. Syrinx – panpipes (Fantasia su motivi brianzoli)
(Trad., arr. E. Spazzi)
Performed by Gruppo folcloristico di Cantù
12. Ocarina (March of the Langnau Cadets)
(Trad.)
Performed by Eduard Gerber.
13. Piccolo flutes with drums (Landsgemeinde Assembly Call)
(Trad.)
Performed by the fifers and drummers of the Appenzell Ausserrhoden Landsgemeinde
14. Piccolo flutes (Gluggsi)
(E. and E. Grieder)
Performed by the fifers of the Basel Bebbi Clique
15. Natwärisch Pfyffe – Valaisan fife (Improvisation)
Performed by Jörg Abgottspon
16. Natwärisch Pfyffe – Valaisan fife with drums (D’Annemarie)
(Trad.)
Performed by Werner and Joseph Berchtold, Valaisan fifes; The Oberwalliser Drums (Rhone Section)
17. Clarinests with accordion, piano and bass (Ribary Family Schottisch)
(J. Ribary)
Performed by the Jost Ribary jr. Family Band
18. Various wind instruments (Julius im Schuss)
(Trad.)
Performed by the Bauernmusik Bürglen

Production information

Musica Helvetica MH 57. Swiss Folk Instruments. Wind Instruments (I). Produced 1978 for SBC / SRI by Lance Tschannen.

Background information

Switzerland is a small alpine nation shaped and influenced by great cultural cross-currents that have swept through Europe over centuries. Out of elements of diversity, the people of this country have forged a distinctly Swiss identity. And music is one of its most eloquent expressions. “Musica Helvetica” explores different facets of music in Switzerland from its earliest beginnings to the latest works of modern Swiss composers, from folk music to rock and jazz. This historical series span the years 1973 to 1998. These recordings are not available.