The first release as part of my "A Tempo Project" is online! Two piano sonatas by Ludwig van Beethoven, played according to the metronome numbers handed down by Carl Czerny: to my knowledge the first recording of this kind ever. The sonatas are combined with background information and insights into the interpretation and research workshop in German and English.

My recording team of Cornelius Claudio Kreusch, Hans-Martin Buff and Christopher Link have done a great job. And above all, I'm looking forward to the discussion that I hope will begin on this enormously fascinating topic - a topic that will ultimately bring a new Beethoven to light.

Here go to the videos!
Slower is better (Saiten culture magazine, May 2019)

Jacques Brel and Hildegard Knef: both born in the 1920s, one a giant of French chanson, the other one of Germany's two great divas. Both of them and their songs are the focus of the chanson program "so oder so ist das Leben" with Regine Weingart and myself. The Theater Parfin de Siècle creates the ideal setting for the intimacy of this music about life and love, about failure and success. While Knef's songs are particularly captivating due to the immediacy of their performance, Brel's chansons are among the most brilliant in this genre, both lyrically and musically. "Ne me quitte pas", "La Chanson des Vieux Amants", "Für mich soll's rote Rosen regnen" and many others can be experienced live in "so oder so ist das Leben"!

www.parfindesiecle.ch
Preview St. Galler Tagblatt
"A brilliant performance either way" (St. Galler Nachrichten)
"The charm of thorny roses" (St. Galler Tagblatt)

Samuel Forrer

The time has come and my new album "Echoes from Chrysospilia" is now available! The album was recorded in St. Laurenzen and contains new organ and piano music by me as well as an impressive organ work from Franz Liszt's last creative phase. 

The recording team of Cornelius Claudio Kreusch, Hans-Martin Buff and Ed Reed did a great job and created a full, warm and at the same time transparent sound, and the pictures by Andi Dietrich are small masterpieces that already visually lead into the world of music.

Further information with ordering options is available here.
... and here go directly to the download on iTunes.

One goal of this fine festival is to present a wide range of different styles to the audience. My program included “Ouessant” and “Echoes from Chrysospilia” from my new album as well as the enchanting “Recueillement” by Franz Liszt from “Liszt & The Black Hills”. A great evening with a great audience!

Photos: Klaus-Reiner Blümel / Ottobrunner Konzerte.

www.ottobrunner-konzerte.com

One of this year's sponsorship awards for culture from the city of St. Gallen goes to me - a great pleasure, a great honor and a great incentive!

The official award ceremony will take place at a public celebration on Monday, November 13, 2017, at 6 p.m. at the Palace in St. Gallen.

www.saiten.ch
www.tagblatt.ch

Photo: Andi Dietrich

Music is an art form that creates a different experience of time. Different ways of timing and different uses of tempo bring out the character of a work in very different ways. A still new research explores tempo in classical music and asks what the understanding of tempo was when a work was composed. Surprising insights come to light.

Beethoven’s Cello Sonata in G minor is the focus of this lunchtime concert. Esther Saladin and I will interpret it inspired by sources from Beethoven’s time. Today’s listening habits are challenged, and it is astonishing how Beethoven’s masterpiece gains in drama and expression…

St. Laurenzen Church, Wednesday, May 3, 2017.

Photo: Heidy Lang