Jörg Widmann (b.1973)
String Quartet No. 2 “Choralquartett” (Chorale Quartet) (2003, rev.2006)

“My second string quartet consists of a single slow movement.  Although the work makes no concrete reference to Joseph Haydn’s Seven Last Words, it would be inconceivable without prior knowledge of this composition.  Haydn’s sequence of movements which (with the exception of the concluding earthquake) are all in slow tempi still provokes a feeling of shocking urgency in our time.  For me, even more disturbing is the calm, composed and serene acceptance of death in the Haydn work (the ‘smile’ of the A major pizzicato thirds!).

In my examination of crucifixion themes, the ‘path’ and the ‘final journey’ were for me the essential expressions.  My work begins at the end of the path.  These are all final tones, phrases from the past which originate from nowhere and do not lead anywhere.  The horrifying friction and abrasion of skin on wood forms a central theme and is associated through silence with tonal choral elements.  I am interested in investigating how, through the course of the work, sound effects no longer represent desolation, and tonal elements no longer represent confidence.”

—Jörg Widmann