Work of the Week - Heinz Holliger: (S)irat(ó)

On the occasion of Heinz Holliger’s 70th birthday earlier this year, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Thierry Fischer will presents his orchestral work (S)irat(ó) at the BBC Proms on 4th August.

The piece was composed between summer 1992 and spring 1993 and was commissioned by the Swiss Festival Orchestra on the occasion of its 50th anniversary. The world premiere took place on 18 August 1993 under the direction of the composer.

The title (S)irat(ó) contains two terms, their fusion reveals the composer’s thoughts behind the work: “Sirató” is the Hungarian for dirge or funeral hymn and relates to Holliger’s mourning for his recently deceased teacher, the Hungarian composer Sándor Veress.  Within the title Sirató, the composer also highlights the word “irato” (Italian for “angry”) an expression of his feelings that Veress was paid far too little praise in his later home country Switzerland for his achievements as an ethnomusicologist.

Veress had been taught piano and composing by Zoltán Kodály and Béla Bartók and his music was characterised by its use of elements from Hungarian folk music. This influence left its mark in Holliger’s work with, for example, its use of a four-duration and five-pitch ostinato throughout the registers and, following the tradition of Hungarian music, the prominent use of clarinets and cymbals at key points.

Holliger himself describes the musical course of this piece: “Sirató’s richly decorated, speech-like chant arises from the orchestra’s low registers, gradually rising across a wild arpeggiando-cadenze of all string instruments into a quiet final song of the violins, woodwinds and the celesta. At the same time, based on the ostinato, a choral of the five clarinets, the low brass and the water gong are heard, as well as (from afar) a low bell-ringing by five plate bells, cymbal, harp, piano and cymbals."

Heinz Holliger - Profile
BBC Proms 2009