Monadologie IX „The Anatomy of Disaster“ (2010) für Streichquartett Arditti String Quartet

• 1 Introduzione 07:14
• 2 Sonata I - Pater, Dimitte Illis, Non Enim Sciunt, Quid Faciunt 10:46
• 3 Sonata II - Amen Dico Tibi - Hodie Mecum Eris in Paradiso 08:02
• 4 Sonata III - Mulier, Ecce Filius Tuus, Et Tu, Ecce Mater Tua! 06:21
• 5 Sonata IV - Eli, Eli, Lama Asabthani? 06:20
• 6 Sonata V - Sitio 07:19
• 7 Sonata VI - Consumatus Est 08:40
• 8 Sonata VII - Pater in Tuas Manas Commendo Spiritum Meum 08:28
• 9 Il Terremoto 05:45
• Total Runtime 01:08:55

Info for Monadologie IX „The Anatomy of Disaster“ (2010) für Streichquartett

Bernhard Lang's „The Anatomy of Disaster“ is based on Joseph Haydn's composition „The Seven Last Words of Our Saviour On the Cross“ from 1785. In „The Anatomy of Disaster“ Lang tries in analogy to Haydn's different versions of the piece to title the Seven Last Words.

Bernhard Lang ingresses into the core, his work examines the meaning of life, revolving around the themes of existence and death; through cellular automats and granular analytical methods historical texts are being processed, comparable to the approach of experimental films by Raphael Montañez Ortíz and Martin Arnold with 'found footage'. All movements circle around so-called catastrophic episodes, where the unfolding process comes to a standstill and is blocked in 'dead repetitions' (Gilles Deleuze) like a stuck record or a defective DVD in their progression.

Bernhard Lang goes deep into the substance of Haydn's enigmatic masterpiece and reaches a radical insight. His composition is interpreted in expressive, existential sounds by the Arditti Quartet.

Bernhard Lang was born 1957 in Linz and completed his musical studies in Graz, where he is professor for composition since 2003 at the Kunstuniversität. His musical works are not only limited to the field of contemporary music, Lang's oeuvre reaches far beyond the purely classical music, seeks the closeness to jazz and electronic music. Restricting genre boundaries cannot be found in his pieces, the composer works as arranger, for the music theatre (Christoph Marthaler), film, writes listening pieces, creates performances and sound installations. Lang's works can be heard at the most important festivals for new music: Donaueschingen, Darmstädter Ferienkurse or at Musikprotokoll of Steirischer Herbst. In the 2008/2009 season he was Capell-Compositeur at the Sächsische Staatskapelle in Dresden.

Arditti String Quartet:
Irvine Arditti, violin
Ashot Sarkissjan, violin
Ralf Ehlers, viola
Lucas Fels, violoncello

The Arditti Quartet
enjoys a world-wide reputation for their spirited and technically refined interpretations of contemporary and earlier 20th century music. Many hundreds of string quartets and other chamber works have been written for the ensemble since its foundation by first violinist Irvine Arditti in 1974. Many of these works have left a permanent mark on 20th century repertoire and have given the Arditti Quartet a firm place in music history. World premieres of quartets by composers such as Ades, Andriessen, Aperghis, Birtwistle, Britten, Cage, Carter, Denisov, Dillon, Dufourt, Dusapin, Fedele, Ferneyhough, Francesconi, Gubaidulina, Guerrero, Harvey, Hosokawa, Kagel, Kurtag, Lachenmann, Ligeti, Maderna, Manoury, Nancarrow, Reynolds, Rihm, Scelsi, Sciarrino, Stockhausen and Xenakis and hundreds more show the wide range of music in the Arditti Quartet’s repertoire.

The ensemble believes that close collaboration with composers is vital to the process of interpreting modern music and therefore attempts to work with every composer it plays.

The players’ commitment to educational work is indicated by their masterclasses and workshops for young performers and composers all over the world.

The Arditti Quartet’s extensive discography now features over 190 CDs. 42 CD's were released as part of the ensemble's series on Naive Montaigne. This series set the trend, by presenting numerous contemporary composer features, recorded in their presence as well as the first digital recordings of the complete Second Viennese School's chamber music for strings. The quartet has recorded for more than 20 other CD labels and together this CD collection is the most extensive available of quartet literature in the last 40 years. To name just a few, Berio, Cage, Carter, Lachenmann, Ligeti, Nono, Rihm, the complete chamber music of Xenakis and Stockhausen's infamous Helicopter Quartet. Some of the most recent releases are with the French company Aeon and include profiles of Harvey, Dusapin, Birtwistle and Gerhard. For 2014, Ferneyhough's complete quartets and trios will also be released on this label.

Over the past 30 years, the ensemble has received many prizes for its work. They have won the Deutsche Schallplatten Preis several times and the Gramophone Award for the best recording of contemporary music in 1999 (Elliott Carter) and 2002 (Harrison Birtwistle). In 2004 they were awarded the 'Coup de Coeur' prize by the Academie Charles Cros in France for their exceptional contribution to the dissemination of contemporary music. The prestigious Ernst von Siemens Music Prize was awarded to them in 1999 for ‘lifetime achievement’ in music. They remain to this day, the only ensemble ever to receive it.

The complete archive of the Arditti quartet is housed in the Sacher Foundation in Basle, Switzerland.

This album contains no booklet.