Label: Bruit

非常にヤバい弦楽四重奏曲!!クラシック音楽のレパートリー演奏からキャリアをスタート、その後現代音楽と古楽の実践においてスキルと感覚を磨き上げていった、Christof Kurzmann、Gaudenz Badrutt、Jonas Kocher、Kai Fagaschinskiらによる"The Baldrian Quartett"の1stアルバム。本作、まだ殆どの世に知られていないという作曲家Frieda Bertelsohn Martholdy (1878 - 1907)の4つの弦楽四重奏曲を初録音したものであり、とにかく底なしに暗く怪しい今聴かれるべき最高に振り切れた初期の前衛音楽。16ページ・ブックレット付き、マスタリングはGiuseppe Ielasi。





Jewel case with 16-page trilingual booklet.

The Baldrian Quartett has established a unique position for itself in the contemporary music world. Coming from the classical repertoire they later sharpened their skills and senses in modern as well as early music practices. Their recent concert programs and releases show a new and unprecedented approach. The four virtuosos reveal unheard sounds from the past. While the quality of their interpretations is second to none, we must also acknowledge their role as true archaeologists of early avant-garde music introducing outsider figures that add invaluable parts to the puzzle of musical evolution. This new album Entschlummern sollst du, sollst entschlummern (engl.: Thou shall slumber, slumber, shall thou) brings us the first ever released recordings of four string quartets by Frieda Bertelsohn Martholdy (1878 - 1907), a composer yet unknown to most of us. The first listening makes undoubtedly clear what an original voice as a composer and what an astonishing achievement from the performers we are witnessing here. Frieda Bertelsohn Martholdys thoroughly modern sounding music fluently integrates a pronounced romantic quality, completely innocent of any of the aesthetic conflicts that 20th century music later challenged providing a candidly bewildering and enriching listening experience. Against the background of it’s origin this music can today be celebrated as a musical sensation. Who would have ever guessed that such a sonic universe could have been created at the end of the 19th century - all four string quartets were composed in 1895 and 1896 - by a young woman in her teenage years? Next to the listening pleasures, it is heartbreaking to read about Frieda Bertelsohn Martholdy’s life in the trilingual 16-page booklet accompanying this CD. In three short essays musicologists Dr. Georgette Oberwies, Inge Salesianer and Franz von Brandenburg introduce us to her music and a life way too short and yet full of hardships and despair, which, in the end, turned out to be unbearable for this sensitive creative mind. The oppression she faced forced her into a new sonic language, though it came at a high price for the young composer. Her music - full of anticipation of practices we have only seen later in the second half of the 20th century – was ignored and rejected at the time and it seems a late reparation that we are now able to acknowledge and appreciate the remarkable music of Frieda Bertelsohn Martholdy. This CD documents recordings of the Baldrian Quartett’s highly praised live performance at the Music Unlimited Festival in Wels, Austria as well as studio recordings from the historical Huguenin Studios in Biel, Switzerland.