Heinz Holliger, born 1939 in Langenthal, Switzerland, is an artist with a taste as amazing as Swiss chocolates! A virtuoso oboist, a wellgrounded chamber conductor, and a respected composer. Holliger has a vast repertoire behind his shoulders that contains different genres from Baroque to our time. He concentrated on the works of Baroque and Classical era for most of his professional life, until he married harp player Ursula Holliger (1937-2014) and ever since together they performed a lot of works from contemporary composers along with Heinz's own compositions until Ursula's death in 2014. Holliger studied composition with Pierre Boulez and so some of the most significant works written for oboe in 20th century have been dedicated to him. Works by Luciano Berio, Krzysztof Penderecki, Elliott Carter, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Witold Lutosławski are among them.
Heinz Holliger started teaching in Freiburg, Germany in 1966 and created an ensemble named "Zelenka Renaissance" in 1972, performing music in old style. But neither his teaching reputation nor his contribution with great musicians is the the reason to have Holliger's name on this article. When Holliger touches a piece and decides to perform it, you know it's good. You know for sure, that his taste in music can not go wrong; and I believe that's a good enough reason to have him recognised as true man of art.
Holliger's performance of concertos by Albinoni and J.S. Bach is sweet, warm and delicate in every imaginable way; and it's in his recordings that you can always find a new "approach". Holliger also worked on C.P.E Bach for some time and made a project to bring some of the lesser known romantic composers out from the dust. He worked on a series of works by Schumann and Debussy as well.
It is indeed a bitter fact, that in our time, most of the stars in the sky of classical music are pianists, singers, conductors, composers and string players; and the part where woodwinds or brass must shine has always been underestimated. But Heinz Holliger proofed otherwise and engraved his name with artistic maturity and dignity forever alive.
He blows into his instrument like wind blows at night, like he is a man that a stormy night left behind...
Please share your thoughts on Holliger and his discography & compositions. Have you heard his albums? Have you ever heard him live? Do you like his musical accent? I'd be happy to read your comments!
