With this new CD, the Fundación BBVA-NEOS Collection presents the more intimate side of German composer Helmut Lachenmann (Stuttgart, 1935), one of the maximum exponents of what is known as instrumental concrete music.

After studying composition and music theory in his home town, Lachenmann’s creative parameters were radically reshaped by his two years in Venice with Luigi Nono and a spell, during the mid 1960s, at the Institute of Psychoacoustics and Electronic Music in Ghent. An eager explorer of all compositional terrains and formats, Lachenmann has also taught extensively in many parts of the world, and has received numerous plaudits for both activities, including the prestigious Ernst von Siemens Music Prize in 1997.

Chamber music represents only a small part of his considerable output, beginning with a trio in 1965. Hence the interest of the three string quarters brought together on this disc. The first track ‘Gran Torso‘ dates originally from 1971, but was then extensively reworked into its finished version of 1988. This is standard practice for the Stuttgart-born composer, who in 2002, a year after writing the ‘Grido’ piece on this CD, came up with an enlarged version titled ‘Grido II’ for a total of forty-eight string instruments. The Stadler Quartett performing these works has earned Lachenmann’s praise for its “adventurousness with instrumental technique”.

Performances by:

Stadler Quartett:
Frank Stadler, violin
Izso Bajusz, violin
Predrag Katanic, viola
Peter Sigl, violoncello

Contents:

CD Audio:

1. Gran torso (22:05)
2. Grido (24:13)
3. Reigen seliger Geister (27:52)

Total time: 74:29