Swiss violinist Paul Giger brings the sound of the Alps to Delhi The silence of the Cathedral Church of Redemption near Rashtrapati Bhavan came alive with the sounds of the violin on Wednesday evening. The performance by Swiss musician and composer Paul Giger, on the Delhi leg of his India tour, turned out to be a musical treat. Giger presented the Chartes composition in the sanctum sanctorum, making the church resonate with unsullied sounds and a soaring precision of the notes.Giger composed the piece in 1988 as a seven-stage journey of a pilgrim from the crypt to the sanctorum. The composition, which blended a diversity of traditions from jazz to classical, was first performed by him at the Cathedral of Chartes in France.As a youngster, Giger had played the violin on the streets of Mumbai for a living. “India has always attracted me and you can see the impressions of it in my music,” he said. In his music, the sounds of the Alps met the mridangam.The grand closing notes created an aura, leaving a pin-drop silence that broke into a roaring applause.
