Swiss mezzo-soprano Leila Pfister studied in Zurich
and Bern as well as in Hartmut Höll’s master
class for Lied duo and in master courses with
Pierre Boulez, Christoph Prégardien, Irwin Gage and
Brigitte Fassbaender. She is currently a member of the
Aachen Opera ensemble. She is particularly interested
in the music of the 20th and 21st century as well as
the romantic Lied. Her dance and theater studies
have made her an exceptionally versatile artist who
can also be seen and heard in many types of theatrical
productions.
On this CD, accompanied by Judit Polgar, with
whom she has worked for many years, she interprets
songs that mark the change to the modern musical
age. Both Schoenberg’s George-arrangements as well
as Berg’s Lieder op. 2 are on the threshold to the new
aesthetics of atonality and use the avant-garde lyrics
of their time as the motor of a new musical language.
Honegger’s “Quatre Chansons” reflect the phase of
reorientation during western music during World
War II. Old and new, traditional and exotic serve as
inspiration for a thoroughly heterogeneous cycle.
Debussy’s Chansons de Bilitis were written based on
texts of poet and bohemian Pierre Louÿs. With their
sketchy, quasi-improvisatory musical gestures, these
songs are distinctly different from late romantic art
songs.