Heinz Holliger’s “dream opera” Lunea which was premiered, to great acclaim, at Opernhaus Zurich, interweaves strands from the life and mind of Nikolaus Franz Niembsch (1802-1850), the Hungarian-born Austrian poet who wrote under the name Nikolaus Lenau. Lenau’s last, fragmentary writings have fired Holliger’s imagination and led to the creation of an intricately inventive work with a marvellously evocative lead role for baritone Christian Gerhaher. Neue Zürcher Zeitung: “Here Gerhaher can display his full sensitivity in dealing with the finest nuances of language and bring to bear his almost unlimited spectrum of tonal-dynamic gradations in the intonation. The poet Lenau speaks most directly from the sounds and notes…”

Scardanelli-Zyklus (Scardanelli Cycle) is Heinz Holliger’s crowning compositional achievement. It is so lovingly crafted that I cannot help but bask in its atmospheres anew with each listen. This was my inaugural Holliger encounter as either musician or composer and will always hold a special place in my life for that among other reasons. I first heard Scardanelli-Zyklus when I was sixteen (as many years as it took to compose), and the experience was nothing short of a revelation. To compare it to anything else would be an injustice.

The Swiss oboist, composer and conductor Heinz Holliger is without doubt one of the "grand old men" of the European classical music scene. Now in his 83rd year, the busy all-round musician is still bursting with verve, curiosity and the desire to make music. His latest album is called "Les Roseaux Chantants" ("The Singing Reed Flutes"), an allusion to the double reed with which the notes on the oboe and the cor anglais are made to sound. Works were chosen that were composed for the unusual combination of two oboes plus English horn. A tonally attractive combination, as the works by Beethoven, Wranitzky, the Swiss composer Rudolph Ganz and, last but not least, Heinz Holliger himself, impressively demonstrate.

The literature of duets for oboe and flute, with no bass instrument, is not large, and in putting together an album's worth the veteran Swiss musicians Heinz Holliger (oboe) and Felix Renggli (flute) come up with a rather mixed bag of pieces. The good news is that they include some real finds and play them well. The three sonatas for oboe and flute of Wilhelm Friedemann Bach are taken from a group of six he composed at various times in his career, and you can see why this most Bachian of Bach's sons might have been attracted to the experiment. The outer movements of these sonatas are rigorously polyphonic, with the flute and oboe contributing textural variation in the manner of the different stops of an organ, but at a more intimate scale. It's a delightful effect.

‘Induuchlen’, destined surely for cult status, finds Heinz Holliger the creative composer drawing inspiration from arcane Swiss sources, setting the poetry of Anna Maria Bacher who writes in the endangered idiom of “Pummattertisch”, and verse by the late Albert Streich, who wrote in Brienz-German. As conductor Holliger draws committed performances from a cast of gifted chamber musicians and singers Sylvia Nopper and Kai Wessel. The results are intriguing, mysterious and strangely beautiful.

Quite amazing what astonishing musical colours and sound effects an ensemble of three reed instruments can achieve. To be heard on the new album with Swiss music legend Heinz Holliger. The title »Les Roseaux Chantants», the »singing reeds», refers to the double reed through which the oboe and cor anglais (and also the bassoon) are blown to set the air vibrating and produce sounds. Works by Ludwig van Beethoven, the Swiss composer Rudolph Ganz (1877-1972), Anton Wranitzky and Heinz Holliger. A fascinating sound and musical experience.

Zelenka was a Bohemian contemporary of Bach, Handel and Telemann. He held a post as court musician at Dresden from 1710 until his death in 1745; but he travelled, too, and studied in Vienna with Fux, and also in Italy. These six trio sonatas are the only known chamber ensemble pieces by Zelenka, though he contributed a canon with 14 inversions to Telemann's periodical, Der getreue Music-Meister (1728–9). In five of the six sonatas Zelenka specifies two oboes and bassoon with two obbligato basses whilst in the remaining Sonata (No. 3) he requires the first oboe to be replaced by a violin. Zelenka's ''two obbligato basses'' have bewildered editors in the past.

A countryman of Bela Bartók and a sometime teacher to both György Ligeti and György Kurtág, Sándor Veress emigrated to Switzerland from what was then part of Hungary in 1949. Settling in Bern, he collected various prizes and teaching posts while working in relative obscurity on who knows how many pieces–most of which have been unavailable. This collection is made up of a pithy trio of compositions dated 1938 (Six Csárdás), 1951 (Hommage à Paul Klee), and 1952 (Concerto for Piano, Strings, and Percussion), and they show what a deftly melodic force Veress was. He's thrilled by blustery string wafts, especially in the concerto, where the percussion adds drama and immediacy. But he also favors sweetly chipper string formations, which surprise the ear during the homage to Klee, especially given the dissonances fostered early on by the twin pianos. The closing piano miniatures of Six Csárdás are counterpoint-rich gems, played with sharp precision by András Schiff.

Rendered with impeccable musicality, Felix Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 3 in A minor, "Scottish," and his Symphony No. 4 in A major, "Italian," are treated in an exemplary manner by Heinz Holliger and the Musikkollegium Winterthur, and recorded with immaculate unprocessed sound by Musikproduktion Dabringhaus und Grimm. This is a high-quality audiophile release that collectors will naturally want to snap up. But anyone who is developing an appreciation for Mendelssohn's music would be well-advised to listen to this multichannel hybrid SACD, not only for the vivid orchestral timbres and spacious natural sound, but also for understanding how the use of historical practices can make the music truly come alive.

Hungarian-born Sándor Veress (1907-1992) is a sadly neglected figure in modern music. Despite his pupilage under Bela Bartók and Zoltán Kodály, and even his succession over the latter as professor of composition at the Budapest School of Music in 1943, Veress has never attained the same international recognition as his two most successful compatriots. One might blame his preference for solitude or his idiomatic methodology for keeping him in obscurity. Yet as one who made the most of his outlier status and ideological exile, he seems never to have been one to wallow in self-pity. Exposed to much of the folk music that also captivated his mentors, Veress nurtured that same spirit when sociopolitical upheaval exacerbated his emigration to Switzlerland in 1949. Whereas Kodály in particular saw cultural preservation as central to the musical act, Veress saw it as an incision to be teased open and unraveled.

Early in December 1787 Catherine II of Russia invited the famous composer to her court at St Petersburg where Italian opera was all the rage. A few days after his arrival the wife of the ambassador of Naples and Sicily died and Cimarosa was asked by him to compose a Requiem Mass for the funeral. Composers did not need to bother about being original in those days and Cimarosa could draw easily on a common stock of melodic ideas, but, nevertheless, his Mass is well shaped and certainly not a mere puce d'occasion.

The 150th anniversary of Charles Koechlin's birth in November 2017 is marked by the reissue of all the Koechlin recordings made by the Sudwestrundfunk. This release of Koechlin's orchestral works includes many world premiere recordings and gives a comprehensive overview of Koechlin's output- from the early orchestral songs to his orchestrations of works by other composers and to his huge later works. Koechlin's compositional style was very subtle, full of delicate, colorful combinations of instrumental sounds. Many of his colleagues allowed him to orchestrate their works, simply because Koechlin was a master of the art.

A cheerful little record, this, of three lightweight works played most exquisitely by very distinguished artists. In fact I am not sure that the chief distinction doesn't emanate from the orchestra: it is a while, as it happens, since I have heard the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and they seem to be playing here better than ever—sweet string tone, pure intonation, finely moulded phrasing, impeccably precise ensemble. Of the three works, the Cimarosa, written for two flutes (in which form it has several times been recorded), is the most attractive for its fluency, its melodiousness (the finale is a real charmer) and its elegant musical form; the Salieri seems by comparison rather carefully devised, though of course it has plenty of entertaining music. Carl Stamitz's piece takes itself more seriously, trying to be symphonic and taking less trouble about being tuneful—though the warm, galant slow movement makes very pleasing listening. The recorded sound is clear and true. (Stanley Sadie, Gramophone)

The complete edition of Robert Schumann's symphonic works with the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne under Heinz Holliger is now available as a 6 album set.