L’inverno è passato

Arranging and harmonizing are two activities inextricably linked to the practice of music. It was only towards the end of the 19th century, with the emergence of the genius’ cult, that people began to consider a musical work as unalterable. Previously, music was adapted to the available resources or to the taste of the day. By that time, many composers published reductions of their own operas and symphonies for chamber music.

In the present piece, Caroline Charrière focuses on the popular Ticino song well known for its cuckoo call: L’inverno è passato. With great charm and wit, she deconstructs the harmony and the well-known lyrics - the intrusion of an A after a few bars - and underlies the melody with new rhythms and onomatopoeia borrowed from jazz, gives an individual voice to the echo of the cuckoo and culminates in a highly sophisticated final chord reminiscent of the 1920s Berlin. This work is an unsentimental tribute by the composer to a region of Switzerland that she loved and enjoyed walking around.

Irène Minder-Jeanneret