MAX E. KELLER (b.1947): tenuto, battuto, fulminante for Orchestra (Tonhalle Orchestra Zürich; David Zinman), Selbstgesprache for Piano and Live Electronics (Werner Bärtschi [piano]), Cinque for Bassoon Quartet (Quadriga Fagott Ensemble), Trio fluido for Piano Trio (Trio Flair), MARCELA PAVIA (b.1957): Flair for Piano Trio (Trio Flair), Nayle for Solo Flute (Lisa Cella), Per un addio for Speaker and Piano (Valentin Johannes Gloor [speaker], Esther Flückiger [piano]), Los senderos que se bifurcan for Violin and Guitar (Duo46), The Banshee's Keen for Guitar (Patrik Kleemola), Amancay for Clarinet and Guitar (Gleb Kanasevich [clarinet], Matt Gould [guitar]).

Description: Keller's tenuto is a substantial orchestral essay in four discrete sections, presenting blocks of sound, some of them sonorous and atonal, others distinctly melodic and richly harmonized, with the feel of a jazz solo (the composer has worked as a free jazz improviser). The whole is bound together by a strong underlying rhythmic pulse, perhaps also a product of Keller's jazz background. Selbstgesprache adds complex layers of electronic treatment to small cells of piano material, creating a sense of larger forces, while Cinque does much the same thing through the overlapping of voices within the homogeneous four-bassoon ensemble. The piano trio employs a wide range of extended techniques, surrounding and distorting a trivial folk-tune. Pavia's trio shares with Keller's works an acceptance of strongly delineated pulse as an essential element of the music, in a lively dialogue between the instruments characterized by wide intervallic leaps, sonority and resonance, features that are also explored in the works with guitar. Elements of folk-rhythms from different cultures are also to be heard in these striking chamber works.