Walther Geiser – practitioner of late Romanticism.
Back to the Swiss Radio Archives this week for a performance featuring composer Walther Geiser conducting his own work.
Fantasie For Orchestra number 2, performed with the Basle Symphony, led by the composer in this radio recording from October 17, 1946.
After finishing school, Walther Geiser studied composition and violin at the Basel Conservatory . After the First World War, he traveled via Italy , Cologne , and Vienna to Berlin . There, in the 1920s, he resumed his composition studies with Ferruccio Busoni at the Academy of Arts , graduating in 1923.
From 1924 to 1963, he taught violin, chamber music , composition , and orchestral conducting at the Basel Conservatory. He also conducted the conservatory’s orchestra .
Walther Geiser was also active as a musician and conductor . He was a violist in the Basel String Quartet. He conducted numerous radio concerts and performances of symphonies . From 1954 to 1972, he also directed the Basel Bach Choir .
He also served as president of the Basel section of the International Society for Contemporary Music . Furthermore, he was a member of the Swiss Musicians’ Association, which awarded him its Composer Prize in 1962.
His compositional output includes works for choir , organ and orchestra, as well as chamber music. In his later works, he increasingly explored twelve-tone technique .
Works: 2 flute concertos (1921, 1963); Violin Concerto (1930); Horn Concerto (1934); Konzertstiick for Organ and Chamber Orch. (1941); 4 orch. fantasies (1942, 1945, 1949, 1963); 2 syms. (1953, 1967); Concerto da camera for 2 Violins, Harpsi-chord, and String Orch. (1957); Piano Concerto (1959); chamber music; piano pieces; Stabat Mater for Baritone, Chorus, Orch., and Organ (1936); Te Deum for 4 Soloists, Chorus, Orch., and Organ (1960); choral music.
Enjoy.
