LAURENT METTRAUX
Route Principale 160,
CH-1791 Courtaman (Switzerland),
tel. + fax: (+41)
26/684.18.65, E-mail : laurent.mettraux(at)bluewin.ch
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SELECTION FROM THE NEWSPAPERS
« He is part of a new generation of musicians grown
weary of formal researches, who return to the
expression of their personality in contempt of the vanguards, and resort to
tonality whenever they want to. »
(Jean-Jacques Roth,
Le Nouveau Quotidien, March 3rd, 1993)
« What strikes the listener in Laurent Mettraux’
work is the sense of construction, as well architectured
as implacable. […] In the great majority, instrumentalists declare being very
receptive to his music. » (Antoine Pecqueur, Revue
Musicale de Suisse Romande, September 2007)
« The highly and subtly lyrical music of the second
Trio (1996) by Laurent Mettraux ! A really rare music,
narrative to the utmost, that lays out a way of poetry
filled with passions and illuminations […] a striking language. » (Bernard Sansonnens, La Liberté, February 21st,
2000)
« The public has discovered with astonishment the very
beautiful Concerto for 15 soloist strings by Laurent Mettraux. […] This work is
very modern as well as very classical, perfectly harmonious. » (Vincent Pellegrini, Le
Nouvelliste, July 14th, 1994)
« It is a
music made of strong atmospheres, of dramatical and
meditating aspects. There is something authentically and deeply romantic in
this first symphony. There cannot be found anything artificial in the writing
manner of Laurent Mettraux. » (Emmanuel Siffert, La Liberté,
October 16th, 1999)
« Out of a deep
harmony emerge forces that will stretch the phrase up to its climax. […] There
is a real talent in this language, that affects by the
strength of its conviction. » (Patrice Borcard, La Gruyère, July 18th,
2000)
« The first performance of the work “Gethsemané” by the 24 year old high talented composer
Laurent Mettraux from Fribourg constituted a high point. The work pictures in a
subtle dramatical way the arrest of Jesus in the
garden of Gethsemane. » (pof, Der Bund, March 29th, 1994)
« The
Symphony for chamber orchestra is a work that speaks both to the heart and to
the mind. A warm lyricism imbibes this score enriched by instrumental solos of
unquestionable attraction. The revelation of a real talent. » (Yves Allaz,
Journal de Genève, March 3rd, 1993)
« Laurent Mettraux is one of the most promising young Swiss composers. He
is already the author of an important and diversified work, interpreted all
around the world by famous ensembles. The Organ Concerto, first performed in
December 2003 for the inauguration of the new great organ of the Lausanne
Cathedral, impresses by its expressiveness and meditative depth. It evokes
numerous connections of ideas: one thinks he perceives a “growl from heavens”
in the powerful tremolos of the organ and the orchestra, the trombones of the
Last Judgment resound dramatically and the heavens seems to open in the
ethereal sonorities of the Vox coelestis
stop. » (Renate Herklotz, Program book of the 229th
season of the Gewandhaus, 2009/10)
« It is to be said that this work [Suite for three
flutes] is one of the most impressive Swiss first performances that I’ve heard
for a long time : rich, amazing, full of an emotion
accessible to all and reaching a depth and a sincerity of all instants. » (Alexandre
Traube, l’Express, April 26th,
2007)
« A composer of a new generation attracts the
attention: Laurent Mettraux of Fribourg. His work “Ombre”
is freed from the vanguards. It shows a strong, rather intuitive talent. » (Simone Mahrenholz, Die
Welt, October 20th,1999)
« Among the composers of the younger generation, Laurent
Mettraux reaches with “Traces gravées dans le Sable” an aesthetic extreme position. Mettraux
understands the six miniatures as meditations on texts taken from the Buddhist
Chan tradition. His work flows slowly and softly, in a slight expressive
tension, going through magnificent sonorities :
really a music, at the listening of which one has to close the eyes. » (Thomas Schacher,
Neue Zürcher Zeitung, September 11th, 2009)
« Mettraux's Symphony for Chamber Orchestra is a powerful
18-minute tragic episode masterfully developed, and there is good reason why it
has won prizes. » (Robert Benson, classicalcdreview.com, January 2010)
« What an admirable
variety of sensitive, moving expressions, fed with poetry, emanates from the Paremboles by Laurent Mettraux !
[…] Soft dream strands, in a perfect musical cohesion, together with a rare
beauty of tones. » (Bernard Sansonnens, La Liberté,
October 26th, 1998)
« Today, his music
corresponds to the expectations of the interpreters as well as of the
institutions. It benefits by the traditions as well as it reflects the
individuality of its conceptor, who vindicates by
means of it the right to move freely. » (Dominique Rosset, L’Hebdo, August
3rd, 2000)
« In Stèles, five short piano pieces after poems by Victor Segalen, Laurent Mettraux shows an outstanding knowledge of
historical musical forms. » (Tobias Rothfahl, dissonance, March 2011)