HERMANN SUTER (1870-1926): Symphony in D Minor, Op. 17, WERNER WEHRLI (1892-1944): Chilbizite.

Description: First recorded by Sterling and offered here in May 2003 (05E001), the 1914 symphony, although there is no extra-musical subtext, sounds for all the world like a Swiss equivalent of the Alpine Symphony, its first movement ("Nebuloso" is the apt performance direction for its cloudy, misty opening) seeming to evoke the majesty of the Alps. The unusual schezo ("Capriccio militaresco") is a satire of Swiss petty bourgeois attitudes and the slow movement returns to the majestic grandeur of the first although slow and with a sense of religiosity. The finale is a riot of folkloristic bustle, evoking the multiplicity of regional dialects and customs in Switzerland. The coupling from 1917, whose title refers to an annual Swiss town fair, is by Suter's student who takes (or creates, it's unclear which) a rustic folk song and turns it into a 13-minute symphonic overture, complete with four bars of accordion and a squeaking clarinet to ape the authentic sounds one might hear at such a fair. Aargau Symphony Orchestra;  Douglas Bostock.