Jürg Frey
Jürg Frey, born in Aarau, Switzerland, in 1953, is a composer and clarinettist and one of the central figures of the Wandelweiser group, the collective of composer-performers he joined in 1993. His music is quiet and very slow, built from single sounds, silences and small repeated figures, and can last an hour without ever raising its voice; the long piano and string pieces of recent years have made him one of the most recorded composers of that school.
Clarinet Quintet
On his Clarinet Quintet, Jürg Frey stretches time until it feels almost weightless, using soft clarinet breaths and hushed strings to trace a slow, luminous drift where tiny inflections become whole landscapes of feeling.
String Quartet No. 3 / Unhörbare Zeit
2015 release **
"Two works, Frey's third string quartet (2010-2014) and a piece for string quartet and two percussionists (2004-2006), with Quatuor Bozzini on each, assisted by Lee Ferguson and Christian Smith on the latter. I get the impression that…
Another Timbre Bundle
Another Timbre presents five essential releases exploring the furthest reaches of contemporary composition and electroacoustic investigation. This special bundle brings together works that exist beyond conventional categories - music demanding patien…
Je Laisse à la Nuit son Poids D'Ombre
How does music inhabit the space between two worlds? Jürg Frey confronts this question directly in Je laisse à la nuit son poids d'ombre, a composition for ten musicians that exists in deliberate suspension, refusing the security of solid ground. Com…
Composer, alone
Composer, alone by Jürg Frey (performed by Reinier van Houdt) is a luminous retrospective stretching across three discs and 35 years. Twelve solo piano pieces—fragile yet substantial—trace Frey's evolution, distilling time and silence into crystallin…
On Foot
2011 release **
"Shepard, in 2005, set himself the task of hiking 250 miles across Switzerland, composing a new piece each day (performing it as well, in some public setting). Six of these works are collected here, performed by various Wandelweiser-i…
Duos
2009 release **
"Two sets of pieces written for the duo Contour (Stephen Altoff-trumpet, Lee Forrest Ferguson-percussion), a potentially unwieldy combination. Frey's "22 sächelchen" (small things) is rather just that, 22 miniatures lasting 32 1/2 min…
Earth Interval + Extended Circular Music (2LP Bundle)
This bundle includes the latest Blume releases, two groundbreaking archival discoveries that illuminate the hidden connections between American experimental music's founding generation and contemporary European avant-garde. Doris Dennison's Earth Int…
Extended Circular Music
** 200 copies. Color Vinyl. 140gr Audiophile pressing. Including printed inner sleeve housing a Nagaoka anti-static record sleeve, plus an original insert that functions as Obi. Comes with exact replicas of the original postcard graphic scores. ** Si…
Longing Landscape
Jürg Frey, the Swiss composer, clarinetist, and central figure in the Wandelweiser collective, presents three recent chamber works—all written for and performed by the Prague Quiet Music Collective, with one piece featuring the Norwegian new music gr…
Outermost Melodies
Ian Antonio discovered Jürg Frey via algorithm. About 15 years ago, SoundCloud kept leading him to the same piece, maybe Circular Music No. 2. "I wouldn't notice the piece starting but then realize I was in fact listening to it closely," he recalls. …
String Quartet No. 4
Swiss composer Jürg Frey writes masterful soundscapes, calm and vast. With his sensitive ear for colour, sound and precision, he composes music of great serenity and lyricism; a poetic weightlessness in search of silence in sound. “My music is slow, …
Fame di Vento
Huge Tip! Fame di Vento is Manuel Zurria's latest work. A triple CD to evoke the many suggestions and projects that have taken place in recent years, full of collaborations, of the Sicilian flautist. Fame Di Vento is also an idealized homage to Aligh…
Circular Music (Ext. N° 1 / N° 2 / Ext. N° 2)
Circular Music and Extended Circular Music are two collections of compositions written by Jürg Frey between 2011/2016 and 2014/2015 respectively. The first cycle is composed of seven distinct compositions while the second is divided into nine parts b…
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String Trio
A 51-minute journey through sound that Swiss composer Jürg Frey describes as "a (maybe even perfect) balance between anonymity and personality." Originally commissioned by Concertgebouw Brugge and premiered at the 2019 SLOW Festival, this String Trio…
Les Signes Passagers
'Les signes passagers' is an album of seven pieces for solo fortepiano written by Jürg Frey in 2021, commissioned by the Amsterdam-based pianist Keiko Shichijo. It was premiered by Shichijo on February 5, 2022 at the Concertgebouw Brugge during the S…
Continuité, fragilité, résonance
'Continuité, fragilité, résonance' is a 51-minute piece written by Jürg Frey in 2020-2021 for octet: string and saxophone quartets. The Montréal-based Quatuor Bozzini and the Bern-based Konus Quartett premiered the piece in September 2021, and later …
Lieues D'Ombres
Swiss composer Jürg Frey and Dutch pianist/composer Reinier van Houdt are reunited on this triple CD, 'lieues d'ombres', after their successful collaboration on 'l'air, l'instant - deux pianos' (elsewhere 014), during which the two built a close rapp…
Borderland Melodies
Borderland Melodies, composed by Jürg Frey and interpreted by Apartment House, features three chamber works that exemplify Frey's subtle balance of melody, structure, and quiet innovation. The music explores gradual transformation, intertwining voice…
Wind and Light
Greek composer Anastassis Philippakopoulos has been a member of the Wandelweiser composers collective since 2003. He pursues his own compositional style to create a new kind of tonal music, deeply associated with his individuality and the surrounding…
L'Air, L'Instant - Deux Pianos
Jürg Frey’s unique compositional approach places him at the cutting edge of contemporary classical music. Since the late 90's, Frey started to work with 'lists' as a basis of his compositions, sometimes words, sometimes chords, from which he develope…
Echo.Trio.Fragile.Eyot.
**300 copies** "Taken together, these works not only trigger concentrated, deep(er) listening, making a great case for the importance of silence as a decisive and structural element, but they also stress that the line between a composition and an ins…
120 Pieces of Sound
Jürg Frey’s unique compositional approach places him at the cutting edge of contemporary classical music while simultaneously maintaining a touch of impressionistic/romantic aesthetics in its roots. Since the late 90's, Frey started to work with 'lis…
Early To Late
Performed by Ensemble Grizzana, Jürg Frey (clarinet), Magnus Granberg (celesta, harmonica & stones), Angharad Davies & Mira Benjamin (violins), Anton Lukoszevieze (cello), Dominic Lash (double bass), John Lely (electronics, harmonica & stones), Richa…
Collection Gustave Roud
A double CD with five beautiful pieces that engage with the work of the extraordinary French-Swiss poet Gustave Roud. Performers include Dante Boon, Stefan Thut, Andrew McIntosh and Jürg Frey himself.
“I think my process of work is similar to Rou…
L'âme Est Sans Retenue I
Swiss composer Jürg Frey's six hour long electronic tape piece L'àme Est Sans Retenue I was recorded and assembled in 1997/98 and is now being released for the first time. It is the longest piece Frey has ever composed in his over 40 year career.In t…
Ephemeral Constructions
University of South Carolina experimental music workshop, Greg Stuart (director). Kallam Ashmore (objects), Brian Bethea (saxophone), Erik Carlson (violin), Eric Dennis (objects), James Easteppe (guitar), Jürg Frey (clarinet), Michael Halbrook (objec…
For Clarinet (And Piano)
Three beautiful works for Jurg Frey's clarinet by the Amsterdam-based Wandelweiser composer Dante Boon, with the composer accompanying Jurg on piano on two of the pieces. Amsterdam-based composer and pianist Dante Boon (1973) has been composing si…
Guitarist Alone
Jurg Frey - guitarist, alone played by Cristian Alvear. A double CD featuring all of Jurg Frey's music for solo guitar, beautifully interpreted by the Chilean guitarist Cristian Alvear, including a new piece written specially for Cristian. “Not one …
duos
Since their formation in 1998 at the Darmstadt Summer Courses for New Music, duo Contour have commissioned and performed over 40 new pieces by composers from Asia, Europe, New Zealand, Switzerland and the United States. Their collaborative work has c…
string quartets
Material can be anonymous. Consider, for example, the middle voices in medieval hymn books: unadorned, not artful, a simple handiwork, a leisurely alternation of single notes. It might be a scale, or, beyond music, the stones of a wall, not artfully …
Accordion Music
2007 release **
Fold in; fold out: the breathing of the accordion. On this CD the accordion unfolds in a very special way, unusually close to the instrument. Four works, four worlds that seem to know each other; refer to each other like a greeting fr…
Grizzana And Other Pieces 2009-2014
A double CD of beautiful chamber pieces by the wonderful Swiss composer and clarinetist Jurg Frey, who will be composer in residence at this year's Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. Played by Ensemble Grizzana: Jurg Frey (clarinet), Ryoko Aka…
Songs and piano pieces
music that allows sounds to sound: to die away, completely, into silence sounds thought from their end: not moving forward, but drawing back. this creates space, expanse, a delicate serenity: silence - and what it shelters - becomes audible. this …
24 Worter
JF: The 24 words are the titles of the individual pieces, and they are at the same time the entire text. They are also a list that shows how the piece gets from a beginning to an end. It is, in a sense, a cycle not simply a collection of pieces - a c…
Pianist, Alone
Two fascinating pieces by Jurg Frey on this double CD, beautifully realized by Andy Lee, but fascinating for different reasons. "pianist, alone (1)" lasts for almost 90 minutes and consists of a series of discreet episodes. Will Robin's excellent not…
II
The label doesn't want to do notes anymore about his new releases. So we have to write some with our very good English. With these two names you can imagine that for sure the music will be closer to silence than to wall of noise. First we must say t…
Weites Land, Tiefe Zeit, Raume 1 - 8, Raum 1
Weites Land, Tiefe Zeit: Räume 1–8 is an album by Jürg Frey. It is ranked number 12,910 in the overall greatest album chart with a total rank score of 54 from 1 greatest album chart. Weites Land, Tiefe Zeit: Räume 1–8 is ranked number 430 in the best…
dedalus
On april 2012, Dedalus was invited to perform several Wandelweiser members' compositions in the Ancienne Brasserie Bouchoule which is an exhibition room run by Les Instants Chavirés. Special conditions concerning the rather weak noise insulation …