Ein Schattenspiel, etc.

Georg Friedrich Haas is a contemporary Austrian composer of "art music". "Haas's style recalls that of György Ligeti in its use of micropolyphony, microintervals and the exploitation of the overtone series; he is often characterized as a leading exponent of spectral music" says wikipedia. Only a relative few of his many compositions have been issued on CD - many more of them can be found on YouTube. On this 2020 disc are three of his works in which standard classical instrumentation is augmented and altered by "live electronics". Two are string quartets and one is for solo piano.

Is a string quartet still really a quartet if there are meanwhile some other people with laptops busily twizzling the sound? There is a live performance video of the 'String Quartet No. 7', the first work on the disc, where the JACK Quartet are supplemented by a trio of sound boffins to realise the composition. Whether it's properly a quartet or a septet is neither here nor there: the result is absorbing and atmospheric, and, while hardly straightforward or catchy, it isn't (for me at least) abrasive or nerve-jangling. The performers on the CD are those experts of the avant-garde, the Arditti Quartet.

Sophie-Mayuko Vetter is the pianist on 'Ein Schattenspiel' ('A Shadowplay'). In this piece it's initially hard to discern the electronic element, but it becomes more evident as it goes along. As with the Quartets, one needs at least a tolerance for dissonance to enjoy it. I do have a certain amount of relish for the tang of discord, but have more difficulty with the closing work on the CD, Haas' String Quartet No. 4, which I find more forbidding and less rewarding than the other two tracks.

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All Wrapped Up

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