Klaus Lang - Trauermusiken (2002)

Klaus Lang wasn't yet 25 years old when he composed the two pieces of "mourning music" found on Trauermusiken. More challenging and less rewarding than most of his later works, they have the merit of establishing his main aesthetical interests early on -- and of delivering what their titles promise. "Der Wind und das Meer" (The Wind and the Sea), for solo viola, is performed by the Amrasquartett's Barbara Konrad. During a short five minutes, the instrument stretches out long, quiet tones, the bow barely touching the strings, producing a drone that can be mistaken for the distant roar of the shore or a windy day in the field. It serves as an introduction to "The Sea of Despair," a string quartet. The basic material remains the same: pitchless drones sounding at the threshold of audibility, so quiet that you must focus your undivided attention on the music to make sure it is still there. And there is the catch: at times it is not there at all. The quartet occasionally pauses for varying stretches of time. At the 43rd minute they stop for good, and all you hear (if you crank up the volume) is the sound of the room, a faint hiss that disappears during the 44th minute. It leaves a coda of 25 minutes of complete silence during which your imagination will play tricks on you. The music was so quiet and static that now that it is gone, you tend to "replace" it. Both pieces are somewhat too cold and emotionless to convey the feeling of a mourning. Lang later continued to use similar acoustic textures, achieving much better results in Die Überwinterung der Mollusken, recorded by the ensemble Klangforum Wien in 2000.