String Quartet No.1

‘The idea of disintegration, of dissociation underlies the First [String] Quartet, I must say there is a certain pessimism in it, a metaphor for the impossibility of togetherness, of understanding one's neighbour, a metaphor for the utter numbness of humanity (life itself was so dark, so sad and hopeless in those years ...). The work grows out of a single pitch, out of a common point. But different aspects of the musical material - rhythmic and melodic sequences, the manner of articulation and the dynamics - gradually begin to contradict each other. This disunity within the tonal material is also emphasised visually. At the beginning, the four instrumentalists stand in the centre of the stage, all in a group. Then the musical action drives them apart, at ever greater distances from each other, into the four corners of the stage, where each player concentrates solely on his own playing and can no longer hear the others. Complete isolation to the point of madness.’ (Michael Kurtz)

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