Day 3 Drive along the valley and up the mountain to the Oberwald, viewing what remains of the receding Rhône glacier. On to the Grimselpass, already partially covered in snow, and further to the Grimselsee, site of the centuries old Hospiz hotel and the months old Spitallamm dam built right …
Tag:
UMS ‘n JIP
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Day 2 Drinking cappuccino while watching the sun touch the tops of the mountains, i realise what i think are the heavily filtered sounds of doves making it through the triple glazing are actually UMS’s recorder, coming from the rehearsal directly below me. JIP’s voice joins in, gently cooing, and …
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Prologue Tewkesbury to Birmingham to Geneva, then on one of the most beautiful train journeys i’ve known, round Lake Geneva and along the Rhône valley into the mountains. Going beyond Leuk, where i’ve always disembarked on my trips to Switzerland, feels weird and wrong. i acknowledge the Schloss on one …
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In recent years the Swiss music festival Forum Wallis has broken up its elements into three parts – instrumental, electronic and folk – taking place separately, in different parts of the Valais region. As last year, i just attended the instrumental performances, which took place over two days in Schloss …
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An occupational hazard with writing about music festivals is the inability of readers to be able to experience any of the music for themselves. However, in the case of this year’s Forum Wallis festival, three of the most interesting performances have been uploaded to Javier Hagen and Ulrike Mayer-Spohn‘s YouTube …
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The most entertaining event at Forum Wallis 2023 was ‘Adventurous Sounds’, a concert billed as being “New Music for and with children” as part of a project aimed at introducing contemporary music to young people, which also extends to in-school activities. One of the most hilarious compositions i’ve ever heard, …
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i’ve often likened going to a music festival to an act of pilgrimage, and that feels especially true of Forum Wallis. The two-and-a-half hour train journey from Geneva, edging round the lake before passing by Montreux and on into the heart of the Swiss Alps, feels akin to leaving behind …