As a composer, Hermann Meier can in no wise be regarded as representative of his own generation, but is rather to be classed with those composers who were some twenty years younger (such as Boulez and Stockhausen). Meier uniquely turned away from the compositional methods and fashions of his contemporaries, to participate instead – albeit unrecognised – in the renewal of European art music. He is thus by far the oldest representative of the post-War avant-garde. He early on explored serial and pointillist techniques, and from 1949 onwards worked on a serial theory of his own. Already in the 1950s he was composing his first cluster works, and in the 1970s turned to noise composition and electronic music. Over several decades in the seclusion of his home in the Schwarzbubenland region of Switzerland, he produced an oeuvre that is quite staggeringly innovative and without parallel. It includes a large collection of graphic process diagrams that Meier used from 1955 onwards to visualise and concretise his musical compositions.
Despite the quality of his oeuvre, and despite isolated endeavours to get it better known, Meier's music remained unheard for a long time. By the time he reached his 70th year, Hermann Meier had experienced just three performances of his music. It was only from the mid-1980s onwards that his works began to emerge out of the shadows. In this regard, particular credit must go to Urs Peter Schneider and his Ensemble Neue Horizonte Bern, and the pianist Dominik Blum, a former student of Schneider's. Blum recorded the first CD to feature piano works by Meier, which was released during the composer's lifetime. However, it was only in 2010 that the basel sinfonietta first performed two of his 27 (!) pieces for orchestra.
In 2009, Meier's archives were acquired by the Paul Sacher Foundation, and this fact has played a crucial role in getting greater recognition for Meier's oeuvre. Since then, further works have been performed on a regular basis, the highpoint up to now being the world première of his Piece for Large Orchestra and Piano, HMV 62, at the 2018 Donaueschingen Music Days. Meier has also increasingly become the focus of musicological attention. In 2017, the richly illustrated book Mondrian-Musik was published by Chronos Verlag in Zurich, which is an initial effort to document Meier's oeuvre. It features twelve chapters devoted to his works and their context, along with a time chart, a work catalogue and an inventory of his archives.
aart verlag has set itself the objective of publishing Hermann Meier's complete works in facsimile, thereby enabling the music world to gain access to one of the most astonishing musical visionaries of the 20th century.
Brotbeck, Roman (et al.): Einleitung, in: Mondrian Musik: Die graphischen Welten des Komponisten Hermann Meier (S. 7-18), Chronos, Zürich 2017
Brotbeck, Roman: Das "kleine Hänschen" Hermann Meier und seine Mitschüler: Wladimir Vogels Schweizer Kompositionsstudenten, in: Mondrian Musik. Die graphischen Welten des Komponisten Hermann Meier (S. 81-94), Chronos, Zürich 2017
Drees, Stefan: Hermann Meier: Kammermusik und Orchesterwerke 1960-1969 (Musiques Suisses MGB CD 6268), in: Dissonanz 113 (2011), S. 98 [Internet]
Kilchenmann, Marc: Alles ist Uebergangslos und hart. Ein Ueberblick über das kompositorische Schaffen von Hermann Meier, in: Dissonanz 108 (2009), S. 13-23
Schneider, Urs Peter: Verschiedenes zu Hermann Meier, in: Dissonanz 108 (2009), S. 6-9
Schneider, Urs Peter: Verschiedenes von Hermann Meier, in: Dissonanz 108 (2009), S. 9-12