‘Like any similar document, this double CD is an attempt to escape one’s own transience – with competence and conviction, to carve what has been achieved in stone

‘Whether or not it is successful, for everyone interested in art, it can serve as a kind of musical autobiography as well as the transcript of a thirty-year life path which, in connection with the Musikkollegium Winterthur, has been completely at the service of contemporary music since 1993. In the process, many new works for solo viola and orchestra have been written or heard live for the first time in Switzerland.

‘Apart from Morton Feldman and Giya Kancheli, I have had the privilege of having a very personal and amicable relationship with all the composers heard on this CD production, a relationship which goes far beyond the music presented here. Generally, solo and chamber works composed for or premiered by me led to further collaboration with me as a soloist and with the Musikkollegium Winterthur. CD 1 presents four world premieres and CD 2 three Swiss premieres. Except for the work by Hans Ulrich Lehmann, they are exclusively live recordings.’

– Jürg Dähler

Zurich-born Jürg Dähler studied violin with Sándor Végh and Heribert Lauer and viola with Christoph Schiller and Fyodor Druzhinin. Further studies followed with Pinchas Zukerman and Kim Kashkashian. After his debut at the Tonhalle Zurich with the world premiere of Daniel Schnyder’s viola concerto dedicated to him, he has been a guest with many renowned orchestras. Since 1993 he has been first principal violist in the Musikkollegium Winterthur orchestra and is a member of the Winterthurer Streichquartett.

The Musikkollegium Winterthur devotes itself more than any other Swiss orchestra to fostering classical modernism. After an extensive series of releases featuring works by Frank Martin, these currently include portrait CDs by the Swiss composers Rudolf Kelterborn and Richard Dubugnon, the dramatic cantata Vom Fischer un syner Fru by Othmar Schoeck and works by Georg Wilhelm Rauchenecker.