Another sample of music by composers who may not be all that familiar outside of Switzerland.
This one – the Concerto for Viola and Orchestra by Willy Burkhard – with Walter Gerhardt, viola and the Radio Orchestra of Beromünster led by Erich Schmid. The work was recorded at Swiss Radio on August 28, 1962.
Willy Burkhard published 98 works with Opus numbers, and left a large amount of unpublished works held as manuscripts by the Paul Sacher Foundation [de]. He began to compose in late-Romantic style. His personal style developed from 1930, comparable to Paul Hindemith and Frank Martin. Late in life, he used some features of twelve-tone composition, but remained within tonality. He was interested to compose for voices, and regarded for renovated sacred music.[2]
Burkhard is known for sacred choral music, including oratorios Das Gesicht Jesajas (Isaiah’s vision) and Das Jahr (The year), and the cantata Die Sintflut (The Flood). He composed an opera, Die Schwarze Spinne based on Gotthelf’s novella The Black Spider. He wrote song settings for solo voice and choirs, chamber music and piano works. His orchestral music was often dedicated to Paul Sacher’s Sinfonietta, including a Violin Concerto, and two symphonies.
Willy Burkhard was worn in Leubringen near Bienne. After graduating from the Muristalden (near Berne) teachers” training college, he began his musical studies with E. Graf in Berne, then went to S. Karg-Elert and R. Teichmüller in Leipzig, W Courvoisier in Munich and M. d”Ollone in Paris. 1928 he was appointed as theory teacher at the Conservatory in Berne, where he also conducted several choirs and small orchestras. From 1933 on lung problems made sojourns in Montana and Davos necessary. He then settled in Zurich, where from 1942 onwards he taught theory and composition at the Conservatory. There is no doubt that Willy Burkhard was one of the outstanding and influential Swiss composers of our century. Both his works, in particular as a renovator of church music, and his didactic activities had a lasting influence an the future. His pupils include Giuseppe G. Englert, Klaus Huber, Rudolf Kelterborn, Ernst Pfiffner, Armin Schibler and Ernst Widmer, among others.
Enjoy.
