Die jodelnden Schildwachen
(Fantastic March for orchestra) played by the City of Berne Orchestra
Conducted by Christoph Leitz
(Recording made available by courtesy of Schweizerische Rundspruch Gesellschaft)
Heinrich Sutermeister, who was born near Zurich in 1910, studied at Basle Conservatoire and later in Munich under Pfitzner. His Fantastic March for orchestra, ' The Yodelling Sentries,' takes its inspiration from a ballad of the same name by the Swiss writer Carl Spitteler, who lived from 1845 to 1924. It tells how a certain army major posted three sentries outside a powder magazine. Later he heard a distant sound of yodelling and realising it was the sentries he rode off and demanded an explanation; they said they were yodelling for joy at serving their country. The major reprimanded them but was later heard to express his admiration for an army in which soldiers could rejoice in doing their duty. Deryck Cooke