Who hasn’t heard it, rock or pop musicians who somehow remarket their music together with symphonists. It’s a bit different when a brass band interprets rock and pop in their art. It’s not new either, but when it’s done as well as the Harmoniemusik Balzers do, it’s a win for everyone. The musicians, the rock musicians and the audience. If then with the different interpretations there is also a rock concert atmosphere, all the better.

What was particularly striking was the energy, the brass music under the direction of Willi Büchel in the music. You noticed that not only in the rock and pop classics like “Your Song” by Elton John or the Deep Purple Medley played, but also in the rather soft funk pieces like “Birdland” by Joe Zawinul or “Funk Attack” by Otto M. Black. Not only did the harmony music benefit from the appropriate arrangements, but also from the almost big band line-up. But also with «My Way». This one probably had what it took to break the mold of rock and pop. One could tell from the musicians and thus also from the interpretation that Balzer’s harmony music just likes to play it, as Willi Büchel remarked.

Fixed points and a little classic

In addition to Elton John’s “Your Song”, other fixed points could not be missing. Starting with “Hey Jude” by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, “Smoke on the Water” by Deep Purple or “I will always love you” by Dolly Parton, made world famous by Whitney Houston. The pieces were interpreted by Harmoniemusik in such a way that the respective authors would have been very satisfied. With Smoke on the Water one could quickly think that the musicians of the harmony music wanted to blow away the smoke over Lake Geneva – a feat with so many “wind players”. In any case, Richie Blackmore would have been happy.

Of course, the voice of rock couldn’t be missing either – Freddie Mercury. More precisely Queen with Innuendo. Here the listeners could see that even rock doesn’t go entirely without classical music. Borrowings from Mozart, Beethoven and Ravel could be heard and felt particularly clearly here. Rather than the funky version of Richard Strauss’s «Also Sprach Zarathustra».

So it’s no wonder that the musicians were rewarded with standing ovations. Encores were the logical consequence. With “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Freddie Mercury there was a classic again. In the late evening, the Harmoniemusik bid farewell to their guests, including the President of the State Parliament Albert Frick, Mayor Hansjörg Büchel, Pastor Christian Schlindwein or the Honorary President of Harmoniemusik, David Vogt with Ruth and many others from politics and business with a special treat. The instruments had had their day, the musicians presented themselves as a choir and brought in Hubert von Goisern’s “Far, far away” as the “final serenade”. Not far away was a very entertaining evening.