Helmut Lachenmann’s three string quartets Gran Torso. Musik für Streichquartett (1970/71 with later revisions), »Reigen seliger Geister« (1989) and »Grido« (2000/2001, rev. 2002) introduce a huge variety of extended playing techniques that are first listed systematically allowing for a comparison between the three works on a purely technical level. It becomes obvious that most of the extended techniques are introduced in the first quartet and that the subsequent quartets show increasingly smaller selections of these techniques. This especially applies to the most prominent of these techniques: the pressed bow, described by the composer as »rattling«, which symbolizes Lachenmann’s sound world like no other technique. Although the statistics again show the highest degree of timbral differentiation in the first quartet, the pressed bow indeed takes a crucial formal function in all three works. Each quartet includes a relatively long section or field in which this technique dominates. Although the transformation processes by which these fields are integrated show some degree of similarity, a separate predominant function can be discerned for each field. In Gran Torso, the pressed bow section is part of a complex continuous transformation from »tenuto« sounds to single impulses, not least due to its »perforated« sound quality. Whereas this transformation integrates a huge variety of different timbres, »Reigen seliger Geister« condenses the music to two main sound qualities, »flautato« sounds and pizzicato-impulses. The pressed bow field here forms part of a much more concentrated large-scale development and most prominently figures in the retransition from pizzicato-chords to »toneless« impulses towards the end of the piece. In »Grido«, the pressed bow fields integrate other playing techniques as well as pitched sounds, and can be characterized by a tendency towards rhythmic and pitch-related synchronicity that also describes a large-scale formal tendency in this work. Except for the pressed bow sections, the musical flow in this work cannot be characterised by playing techniques anymore, but might be divided into »calm« and »agitated« fields that are interconnected by the »rattling fields«. The analysis provides evidence for the argument that the pressed bow technique, which often was misunderstood as a simple »negation« of beautiful sound, fulfills an essential structural function in Lachenmann’s music.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:DRESDEN/oai:qucosa:de:qucosa:86414 |
| Date | 10 July 2023 |
| Creators | Egger, Elisabeth |
| Contributors | Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst |
| Publisher | PFAU-Verlag |
| Source Sets | Hochschulschriftenserver (HSSS) der SLUB Dresden |
| Language | German |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion, doc-type:bookPart, info:eu-repo/semantics/bookPart, doc-type:Text |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | 978-3-89727-396-2, 08, urn:nbn:de:bsz:14-qucosa2-854162, qucosa:85416 |
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