Manfred Trojahn was invited to the Villa Massimo in Rome in 1979/80 to work on his Second String Quartet, which had been commissioned by Radio France. What initially seemed like a golden opportunity for a young composer turned out to be a difficult period in Trojahn’s life, and this was reflected in the quartet, which moves restlessly between emotional outbursts, stasis, brusqueness, and moments of almost tender lyricism.

The work documents a young composer’s search for an individual musical language in the early days of what we would now call the postmodern period. Manfred Trojahn was not interested in atonal dogma; the tonal relationships in his music reveal many sources of inspiration, including Romantic composers. “Hommage à L.v.B.” is an ironic tribute to the Classical tradition, while in “Abgesang” (Farewell), Trojahn brings together diverse elements from earlier sections of the piece: restless fluttering motifs, elegiac cantilena passages, and bizarre clusters.

To prepare this production of what is for him a very personal work, the composer worked closely with the Minguet Quartet, mezzo-soprano Tanja Ariane Baumgartner, and clarinetist Thorsten Johanns. The fruits of their efforts can be heard in this impressive recording.