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composer: Jörg Widmann
preface: Jörg Widmann
translator preface (English): Lindsay Chalmers-Gerbracht
translator preface (French): Dominique de Montaignac

2nd string quartet

Commissioned work: der Sommerlichen Musiktage Hitzacker und privater Förderer
Premiere: July 29, 2003 Hitzacker, Kirche St. Johannis (D) Sommerliche Musiktage Hitzacker 2003 · Keller Quartet: András Keller, Violine; János Pilz, Violine; Zoltán Gál, Viola; Péter Somodari, Violoncello
Instrumentation: String Quartet
Publisher: Schott Music
Duration: 16' 0''
Year of composition: 2003
Difficulty: difficult
Edition: score and parts
32 Pages - Saddle stitching
ISMN: 979-0-001-13685-3
Order number: ED 9748

Price: 29.95 €
including VAT and plus delivery

Fantasie

Dreaming

On Wings of Song

Fünf Ophelia-Lieder

Versuch über die Fuge

My 2nd string quartet is one single slow movement. The piece does not directly reflect Joseph Haydn's "Seven Last Words" but I would not have been able to write it without knowing that work. The movements in Haydn's quartets (except the final earthquake) are slow movements of shocking forcefulness. What makes the work even more unsettling for me is the relaxed and cheerful acceptance of death (the 'smile' of the A major pizzicato thirds!). When I made myself familiar with the subject matter of crucifixion I discovered that terms like 'walking' and 'the last walk' were most important to me. My piece starts at the final stage of this experience. It contains a number of lost sounds, phrases of futility which come from nowhere and lead to nowhere. The horrifying rubbing and sanding of skin and wood become the 'theme’ of the piece which is combined with tonal, choral-like melodies. I am interested in how to make noises no longer symbolize desolation and tonal phrases no longer represent confidence.

- Jörg Widmann

Jörg Widmann: Über meine fünf Streichquartette

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