‘There is an unwritten rule saying that the artist should have to keep his art and personal matters strictly separate.’ Says the composer York Höller, only to instantly object: ‘If Alban Berg had abided by this rule, Lyrische Suite for string quartet would never have been written’ – as, one may add, would many other works of the classical repertoire! With the piano quintet Zwiegestalt, performed for the first time in Essen in June 2008 by Anthony Spiri and the Minguet Quartet, Höller created his own ‘lyrical suite’. Its five movements are based on a ‘tonal structure’ shaped from the musical note letters the composer obtained from the names of his deceased wife and his current partner.