Heinz Holliger
Heinz Holliger is widely considered the greatest oboe virtuoso of modern times. He is also a noted composer and conductor; as a composer, he is one of the few who has maintained a strict adherence to serial procedures. With a deep understanding of the performance practices of all eras of music, Holliger has garnered praise for his mastery of the many extended techniques related to the performance of 20th century music. He is credited with having extended the technical range of the instrument more than any other oboist. Some of these extended techniques include harmonics, double trills, multiphonics, and glissandos.
Holliger was born on May 21, 1939, in Langenthal, Switzerland, near Bern. He began playing the recorder at age four and piano at six. At 11, he switched to oboe, studying with Emile Cassagnaud and Sándor Veress at the Bern Conservatory. He then moved to Paris to study oboe with Pierre Pierlot and piano with Yvonne Lefébure. In 1959, he won first prize for oboe in the Geneva Competition, and in the same year, he was hired as an oboist by the Basel Symphony Orchestra. Holliger began composing when he was young and has compiled an extensive catalog in many genres. He studied composition in Paris from 1961 to 1963 with Pierre Boulez, who became a key influence on his style. His music is thoroughly influenced by Schoenberg, Webern, and Luigi Nono. The Magical Dances for two dancers, chorus, orchestra, and tape, is a work of exceptional aural density and fine nuances. Holliger's career as an international oboe virtuoso began in 1963. His tours included solo appearances, performances with his late wife, harpist Ursula Holliger, and chamber music appearances with the Holliger Ensemble, a chamber group he founded.
Holliger was appointed professor of oboe at the Staatliche Musikhochschule of Freiburg in 1965. He quickly became known as the most outstanding oboist of the time, adopting the smoother, thinner French (although exceptionally bright) sound rather than the wider German quality. In interviews, he has disputed the accreditation for extending the oboe's technical range, saying, "I have invented nothing"; he points to instances where these techniques appeared in earlier music, such as a glissando in Mahler's Third Symphony, but in fact, he was the first to make extensive use of these techniques. In addition, he has introduced new sounds attainable only by placing a microphone inside the instrument. He has been very alert to the need for expanding the repertoire of the instrument, being critical of oboists for not commissioning challenging new works. Holliger has personally commissioned works from Berio, Stockhausen, and Penderecki, among others. The Double Concerto for oboe, harp, and chamber orchestra by Lutoslawski, written for Holliger and his wife, is considered a masterpiece of 20th century literature. Holliger's music has a very tight, internal logic caused by the strict use of serial procedures. His musical textures can range from slow, attenuated wisps of sound to combinations of instrumental sound so thick that they practically become "white noise." His compositions are almost uniformly technically difficult to perform and highly challenging for the listener. Pneuma (1970) for 36 winds, four radios, organ, and percussion, requires the performers to make specific breathing sounds into microphones; Cardiophonie (1971) uses an amplified stethoscope attached to a solo wind player to add the players' pulse to the music.
Holliger's extensive recording history has seen him featured on dozens of releases on labels including Decca, Philips, and Sony Classical, among many others. These recordings include performances of his own compositions, winning a Grammy award for his opera Schneewittchen (2000) on the ECM label; his many recordings on oboe range from classical giants, such as Bach and Mozart, to contemporary composers, such as Lutoslawski. Along with these are recordings of Holliger conducting orchestral works. Notable of these are a complete recording of Schumann's symphonic works with the WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln on the Audite label. In 2017, Holliger completed his second opera, Lunea (expanded from a previous song cycle of the same name), and the following year, it was premiered at the Opernhaus Zürich. Written for baritone Christian Gerhaher, a recording of the opera with Holliger conducting the Philharmonia Zürich, featuring a cast led by Gerhaher, was issued in 2022.
© TiVo Staff /TiVo
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Albinoni: 12 Concerti Op. 7; 2 Sonatas Op. 2
Heinz Holliger, Maurice Bourgue, I Musici
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jan. 1976
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ligeti: Melodien; Double Concerto; Chamber Concerto etc.
Aurèle Nicolet, Heinz Holliger, London Sinfonietta, David Atherton
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jan. 1976
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Virtuoso Oboe Concertos
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jan. 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Virtuose Oboenkonzerte
Heinz Holliger, Maurice Bourgue, I Musici, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Iona Brown
Klassiek - Released by Decca on 1 jan. 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Strauss, R.: Serenade for Wind Instruments;Oboe Concerto
New Philharmonia Orchestra, Netherlands Wind Ensemble, Edo de Waart, Heinz Holliger
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 sep. 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Early Viennese School - Dittersdorf / Monn / Salieri / Vanhal / Wagenseil: Symphonies and Concertos
Camerata Bern, Thomas Füri, Heinz Holliger, Thomas Demenga
Klassiek - Released by Archiv Produktion on 1 jan. 1983
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Art of Heinz Robert Holliger
Klassiek - Released by UME - Global Clearing House on 16 jan. 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Sinfonia Concertante; Oboe Concerto
Heinz Holliger, Aurèle Nicolet, Hermann Baumann, Klaus Thunemann, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Sir Neville Marriner
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jun. 1984
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Bach, J.S. / Bach, C.P.E.: Oboe Concertos
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 3 jul. 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Koechlin: Offrande musicale sur le nom de BACH, Les bandar-log
Florian Hoelscher, Bernhard Haas, Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR, Michael Korstick, Heinz Holliger, Christine Simonin
Symfonische muziek - Released by SWR Classic on 1 jan. 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bellini/Molique/Moscheles: Oboe Concertos
Heinz Holliger, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Eliahu Inbal, English Chamber Orchestra, Raymond Leppard
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jan. 1976
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
KOECHLIN: Course de Printemps (La), Op. 95 / Le Buisson ardent, Op. 203 / Op. 171
Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR, Heinz Holliger
Klassiek - Released by SWR Classic on 1 jan. 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Robert Schumann - Heinz Holliger : Aschenmusik (Musik from the ashes)
Heinz Holliger, Anita Leuzinger, Anton Kernjak
Klassiek - Released by ECM New Series on 23 mei 2014
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach, J.S.: Oboe Sonata BWV 1030b / Couperin: Les Goûts réunies: Il Ritratto dell' amore / Marais: Couplets sur Les Folies d'Espagne
Heinz Holliger, Christiane Jaccottet, Marcal Cervera
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 24 mei 1974
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Johann Sebastian Bach: Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis
Heinz Holliger, Camerata Bern, Erich Höbarth
Klassiek - Released by ECM New Series on 5 sep. 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Graun / Krebs / Telemann: Oboe Concertos
Heinz Holliger, Camerata Bern, Thomas Füri
Klassiek - Released by Archiv Produktion on 1 aug. 2004
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Couperin: Nouveaux Concerts
Thomas Brandis, Heinz Holliger, Aurèle Nicolet, Josef Ulsamer, Laurenzius Strehl
Klassiek - Released by Archiv Produktion on 1 jan. 1976
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schubert: Symphony No. 7 "Unfinished" & Franz Schuberts Begräbniß-Feyer, Roland Moser: Echoraum
Kammerorchester Basel, Heinz Holliger
Klassiek - Released by Sony Classical - Sony Music on 11 jun. 2021
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Heinz Holliger at the Opera
Heinz Holliger, Ursula Holliger, Gabriel Burgin
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jan. 1989
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
J.S. Bach: Brandenburg Concertos
Heinz Holliger, Severino Gazzelloni, Maurice André, Felix Ayo, Frans Brüggen, I Musici
Klassiek - Released by Urania Records on 1 jan. 1970
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
KOECHLIN: Les Heures persanes, Op. 65bis
Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR, Heinz Holliger
Klassiek - Released by SWR Classic on 6 feb. 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo