Helmut Zapf: String Quartets

Challenging chamber works by this 61-year-old German explore intervals, rhythm, independent part-writing and the human voice – the Sonar Quartett give committed, exacting performances. — BBC Music Magazine, December 2017, 4 out of 5 stars

Release Date: 11th Aug 2017
Catalogue No: WER73482
Label: Wergo
Length: 68 minutes

Usually despatched in 3 - 4 working days

Zapf: Streichquartett Nr. 3

Work length17:32

Album only

Sonar Quartett

Zapf: Sound. Streichquartett Nr. 2

Work length15:58

Album only

Sonar Quartett

Zapf: Streichquartett Nr. 1

Work length8:25

$1.50

$2.10

Sonar Quartett

Zapf: Verschwommene Ränder – 9 Bagatellen

Work length26:06

$9.00

$12.60

Sonar Quartett

I. leeres Brennen

Track length3:42

$1.00

$1.40

II. Eis am Fenster

Track length3:18

$1.00

$1.40

III. „Allein gelassen die Lichter“

Track length2:32

$1.00

$1.40

IV. „Gedämpfte Laute“

Track length2:29

$1.00

$1.40

V. „Wo die Grenze zur Dunkelheit war“

Track length0:46

$1.00

$1.40

VI. „Ein Denken, schneller als das Denken“

Track length2:49

$1.00

$1.40

VII. Unstetes Gemurmel

Track length3:40

$1.00

$1.40

VIII. „Horizont hinterm Schornstein (Schatten)“

Track length1:49

$1.00

$1.40

IX. „Kein Anzeichen für Wunder“

Track length5:01

$1.00

$1.40

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String quartets have for a long time been interpreted as a conversation between four people. For 20th and 21st century composers wanting to leave this idea of a discussion behind, the question has been: in what other ways can one write for this medium. Helmut Zapf’s three string quartets perfectly illustrate the stages of such a confrontation. They have appeared throughout his entire career as a composer, and can be understood as markers for different periods in his compositional output. In Zapfs first string quartet, elements of an individual musical rhetoric survive and are clearly perceived as such. However, the context – the 'rational conversation' – is now present in only a rudimentary fashion. The second string quartet is a logical continuation of the path already established by Zapf: the last remnants of rhetoric and conversational discourse are dispensed with. The four instruments do not act individually, but are treated as a single organism. The third string quartet has been written for the Sonar group. This composition takes up the experiences of the previous pieces and at the same time tries to connect with the tradition: a reconnection from a great and skeptical distance.

Reviews

December 2017

Challenging chamber works by this 61-year-old German explore intervals, rhythm, independent part-writing and the human voice – the Sonar Quartett give committed, exacting performances.

Helmut Zapf: String Quartets

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