Edition Telemark

After the orchestral piece KlangWerk 11 in 2022, Edition Telemark is proud to present the second LP by Berlin-based composer Erhard Grosskopf (b. 1934), featuring his two string quartets nos. 3 and 4 in previously unreleased recordings by the renowned Pellegrini Quartet, and pressed on multi-coloured Quadratic Mirage vinyl.

Like all of his seminal pieces, these quartets – written after one another in 1998 – exhibit Grosskopf's principle of composing in a space instead of on a timescale, thereby eschewing the development of a dramaturgy and instead trying to make the listener forget a sense of time passing. He utilizes so-called sound processes: layers of differing lengths that are looped and stacked according to mathematical principles, resulting in circling harmonic constellations that come to an end only when their end points coincide. Despite being meticulously planned out, the actual musical phenomena that establish themselves with this method seem unpredictable to the listener. String quartet no. 3 (op. 50) uses seven such layers mapped to the four instruments, resulting in a length of about 30 minutes. String quartet no. 4 (op. 51) on the other hand consists of 12 short pieces (5 quartets, 3 trios, and 4 duos) that use a simpler algorithm, allowing the listener to observe the process in close detail.

Both quartets were performed by the Pellegrini Quartet (Antonio Pellegrini, Thomas Hofer, Fabio Marano, Helmut Menzler) at the UltraSchall Festival in Berlin in 2007 and 2003, respectively. This particular recording of quartet no. 3 is unreleased, while quartet no. 4 has never been released before at all.

The LP is pressed on bespoke blue and crystal Quadratic Mirage vinyl, optically mirroring the sound process layers. Full-colour sleeve with artwork by Julia Antonia and liner notes by Matthias R. Entreß. Includes a postcard with the sleeve artwork.