con slancio

Heinz Holliger, Marie-Lise Schüpbach

con slancio
Release date: 06.02.2026 ECM 2807
CD18,90 €coming soon
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“These performances, by Heinz Holliger and Marie-Lise Schüpbach, are simply astonishing in their fluency,” wrote UK magazine Gramophone of Holliger’s album Zwiegespräche, and the description applies with equal pertinence to con slancio, with its inspired and inspiring play of energies. The title piece, which opens the programme here, was written by the Swiss composer and nonpareil oboist as a tribute to musical partner Schüpbach: “Since I began playing in duo with Marie-Lise, I’ve been fascinated by the way our two instruments expand each other’s range and palette of tone colours. New sound paths have opened up for me.”
 
The album includes premier recordings of six Holliger compositions  written between 2018 and 2020, as well as strongly contrasting pieces dedicated to him by fellow composers over the years. The earliest of these are Jürg Wyttenbach’s Sonate (1961) and Jacques Wildberger’s Rondeau (1962), and the most recent are György Kurtág’s aphoristic con slancio, largamente and Toshio Hosokawa’s evocative Musubi (Knots), both written to celebrate Holliger’s 80th birthday in 2019.
 
Recorded at Zurich’s DRS Studio, con slancio continues the documentation of Heinz Holliger’s music at ECM New Series begun 40 years ago with the recording of his Mehrklänge für Oboe solo and other compositions in 1986.  Major works along the way have included the Scardanelli-Zyklus, the Violin Concerto Hommage à Louis Soutter, and the operas Schneewittchen and Lunea, among many others.
 
The CD booklet for con slancio includes an extensive interview with Heinz Holliger by Michael Kunkel, in German and English.
“Diese Darbietungen von Heinz Holliger und Marie-Lise Schüpbach sind schlichtweg verblüffend in ihrer Geläufigkeit“, schrieb das britische Magazin ‘Gramophone’ über Holligers Album Zwiegespräche, und die Beschreibung trifft in gleicher Weise auf con slancio zu, mit seinem inspirierten und inspirierenden Spiel der Energien. Das Titelstück, das das Programm eröffnet, wurde von dem Schweizer Komponisten und unvergleichlichen Oboisten als Hommage an seine musikalische Partnerin Schüpbach geschrieben: „Seit ich im Duo mit Marie-Lise spiele, fasziniert mich, wie unsere beiden Instrumente den Umfang und die Palette der Klangfarben des jeweils anderen erweitern. Für mich haben sich neue Klangwege eröffnet.“
 
Das Album enthält Ersteinspielungen von sechs zwischen 2018 und 2020 entstandenen Kompositionen Holligers sowie stark kontrastierende Stücke, die ihm im Laufe der Jahre von befreundeten Komponisten gewidmet wurden. Die frühesten darunter sind Jürg Wyttenbachs Sonate (1961) und Jacques Wildbergers Rondeau (1962), die jüngsten sind György Kurtágs aphoristisches con slancio, largamente und Toshio Hosokawas eindrucksvolles Musubi (Knots), beide zum Anlass von Holligers 80. Geburtstag im Jahr 2019 geschrieben.
 
Aufgenommen im DRS-Studio Zürich, setzt con slancio die Dokumentation von Heinz Holligers Musik bei ECM New Series fort, die vor 40 Jahren mit der Einspielung seiner Mehrklänge für Oboe solo und weiteren Werken im Jahr 1986 begonnen wurde. Bedeutende Werke auf diesem Weg umfassen den Scardanelli-Zyklus, das Violinkonzert Hommage à Louis Soutter sowie die Opern Schneewittchen und Lunea, neben vielen anderen.
 
Das CD-Booklet zu con slancio enthält ein ausführliches Interview mit Heinz Holliger von Michael Kunkel, auf Deutsch und Englisch.
Featured Artists
  • Heinz HolligerOboe, Cor Anglais, Sprechstimme
  • Marie-Lise SchüpbachCor Anglais, Oboe
Recorded

July-August 2020, Radiostudio DRS, Zürich

Original Release Date

06.02.2026

  • 1con slancio
    (Heinz Holliger)    02:29
  • 2Musubi
    (Toshio Hosokawa)    10:11
  • 3Ständchen für Rosemarie
    (Heinz Holliger)    02:00
  • Sonate für Oboe solo
    (Jürg Wyttenbach)
  • 4Langsam - Beschleunigend03:46
  • 5Ruhig02:57
  • 6Divertissement: äusserst rasch02:37
  • 7Epilog: sehr langsam02:01
  • à deux
    (Heinz Holliger)
  • 8Spiegel - LIED01:50
  • 9Lied im Gegenüber (contr'air)02:11
  • 10Rondeau für Oboe solo
    (Jacques Wildberger)    09:45
  • à deux
    (Heinz Holliger)
  • 11Fangis (fang mich)01:25
  • 12à deux – Adieu05:34
  • 13con slancio, largamente
    (György Kurtag)    01:42
  • 14Duett für Oboe und Englischhorn
    (Rudolf Kelterborn)    10:14
  • 15Oh Boe! für Oboe solo
    (Robert Suter)    06:51
The release of con slancio, with premier recordings of music written by Swiss composer and nonpareil oboist Heinz Holliger, marks 40 years of collaboration with ECM New Series. Threaded throughout the album are strongly contrasting pieces dedicated to Holliger over the years by fellow composers. A spirit of vigor and enthusiasm animates both new pieces and tributes.
 
The Holliger compositions, written between 2018 and 2020, are con slancio for oboe solo,  Ständchen für Rosemarie for English horn, and several duets for oboe and English horn: Spiegel – LIED, Lied mit Gegenüber (contr’air), Gangis (fang mich), and à deux – Adieu.
 
“Since I began playing in duo with Marie-Lise Schüpbach, I’ve been fascinated by the way our two instruments expand each other’s range and palette of tone colours,” says Heinz Holliger. “New sound paths have opened up for me.”  He adds that the newest compositions almost completely forego the use of idiosyncratic  “extended techniques” of which he has been a pioneer. The freshness of the Holliger/Schüpbach duo sound has been noted in reviews of their earlier release Zwiegesprespäche (2019) where Holliger’s music was interspersed with pieces by his friend and contemporary György Kurtág. “These performances, by Heinz Holliger and Marie-Lise Schüpbach, are simply astonishing in their fluency,” declared UK magazine Gramophone.
 
In an interview in the CD booklet Holliger suggests that while the oboe cannot ‘vocalize’ in ways that the flute can, the sound of the instrument can – as in Bach’s arias – be a substitute for the male voice that breaks in adolescence. “In my own case, too, since I had sung as a solo soprano before my voice changed.”  In these late works, the oboe is singing more purely than ever.
 
Of the pieces written for Holliger here, the earliest are Jürg Wyttenbach’s Sonate (1961) and Jacques Wildberger’s Rondeau (1962), and the most recent are György Kurtág’s aphoristic con slancio, largamente and Toshio Hosokawa’s evocative Musubi (Knots), both written to celebrate Holliger’s 80th birthday in 2019.  
 
Hosokawa says that the title of his piece, “was inspired by the Yin and Yang principle, the central concept of the creation of the universe in the East. Polar opposite elements such as man and woman, high and low, light and shadow coexist and complement each other, becoming intertwined without eradicating each other, whilst gradually shaping the harmony of the universe. In this music, the oboe and the English horn, both of which have a distinctive characteristic tone, become entwined and gradually knotted together through arabesque-like appoggiaturas.”
 
Rudolf Kelterborn’s Duett für Oboe and Englishhorn (2017) was one of the last pieces written by the Basel-born composer, who died in 2021. Holliger: “What impressed about Kelterborn is how much more daring he became in old age.” The piece poses some challenges: “At the opening, the English horn intones a deeply pathos-laden recitative, while the oboe responds with a plaintive lament in its most extreme register.”
 
The album closes with Robert Suter’s Oh Boe (1999) which calls for Sprechstimme as well as oboe, juxtaposing vocal and instrumental utterances. “The text is really sharply phrased. It captures me quite well. The oboe attempts to declaim the same words…”
 
*
 
Heinz Holliger was born in Langenthal, Switzerland, in 1939. He pursued studies in composition with Sándor Veress and Pierre Boulez, and in parallel developed the gifts which would see him recognized as one of the world’s most outstanding oboists. Many composers have written works for him, including Frank Martin, Olivier Messiaen, Witold Lutoslawski, Luciano Berio, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Elliott Carter, Hans Werner Henze, Krzysztof Penderecki, and Isang Yun. Holliger has also played a key role in the rediscovery of the music of neglected 18th-century masters such as Jan Zelenka.
 
Recordings with Heinz Holliger’s music on ECM include Scarnadelli-Zyklus (released 1993), Beiseit/Alb-Chehr (1995), Lieder ohne Worte (1997), Schneewittchen (2001), Violinkonzert ‘Hommage à Louis Soutter’ (2009), Romancendres (2009),  Robert Schumann/Heinz Holliger (2011),  Induuchlen  (2011),  Beethoven/Bruckner/Hartmann/Holliger (2013), Aschenmusik (2014), Machaut-Transkiptionen (2015),  Zwiegespräche (2019), and Lunea (2022).
Albums with Holliger as performer include Jan Dismas Zelenka: Trio Sonatas (1999),  Elliott Carter/Isang Yun: Lauds and Lamentations (2003),   Jörg Widmann: Elegie (2011, with Holliger in debut as pianist on Fünf Bruchstücke), Johann Sebastian Bach: Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis – Konzerte und Sinfonien für Oboe (2011), and an album of French music, Éventail, with compositions by Messiaen, Ravel, Debussy, Saint-Saëns, Milhaud and more (2023).  Holliger also conducts Camerata Bern in music of Sandor Veress (1995),  and the WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln in music of Bernd Alois Zimmermann on Canto di speranza (2008).
 
Heinz Holliger has received many awards and prizes, including the Ernst von Siemens Music Award and the Robert Schumann-Preis für Dichtung und Musik for his lifetime achievement in 2022.
 
*
 
Marie-Lise Schüpbach was born in Zurich. She studied oboe with Heinz Holliger in Freiburg im Breisgau, where she graduated with honor. Her orchestral career began at the Cologne Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester. From 1979 to 2017, she held the position of solo English horn at the BR symphony orchestra in Munich. Schüpbach was a member of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra for many years. In 2008, together with colleagues of the BR-Symphony Orchestra, she founded the chamber music festival erstKlassik am Sarnersee.
 
The CD booklet for con slancio includes an extensive interview with Heinz Holliger by Michael Kunkel, in German and English.

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