Solo Musica GmbH

The album Hymne à la beauté brings together seldom heard gems of chamber music in the delightful formation of voice, violin and piano — passionately performed by the aspiring and outstanding Swiss artists Sonja Leutwyler (mezzo soprano), Astrid Leutwyler (violin) and Benjamin Engeli (piano), who are among the most versatile musicians of their generation and have long-established reputations within Switzerland and abroad. This programme of discoveries features captivating works by Louis Spohr, Johannes Brahms, Charles Ives, Camille Saint-Saëns, Felix Petyrek, Czesław Marek and Ottorino Respighi. On a special commission for this CD, the Swiss composer Martin Wettstein has composed the piece Hymne à la beauté (hymn to beauty) for mezzo soprano, violin and piano after a poem by Charles Baudelaire. The music is inspired by the incredible power of beauty, which is part and parcel of this world, giving us meaning and lust for life. At the same time, though, beauty can seduce and ruin people. Lying somewhere between kitsch and madness, beauty waits to be discovered by us.