For almost a quarter of a century now, the Cologne-based Signum Quartet is internationally active in concert halls. It is characterized by an unusual constancy of its cast as well as a program conception, which is unparalleled in the scene. The first change in the cast took place in 2016, when the Primaria Kerstin Dill was replaced by Florian Doderer after two years of intensive research and changing cast of the first violin. Since then, the Signum Quartet, which has received numerous awards and bound in various sponsorship projects, is in the truest sense complete again and can devote itself fully to music making and, of course, programming of their albums and concerts. After the albums "alla czeca" and "soundscapes" dedicated to the Dvorak and Debussy, the newest album of the Signum Quartet Aus der Ferne (from the distant) - the first on the label Pentatone, one of the first hires specialists in the classical market - is dedicated to Franz Schubert. Programming does not mean that the album is dedicated trivially exclusively to Schubert, but that compositions for string quartet and song compositions of the greatest of all song composers of the romance, specially edited by the violist of the quartet and solo viola of the Munich Chamber Orchestra, Xandi van Dijk, are purposefully compiled and arranged facing each other under the theme Aus der Ferne purposefully together and facing each other: The well-known quartet No. 13 "Rosamunde" is linked via three songs - – Lachen und Weinen, Die Götter Griechenlands and Wanderers Nachtlied – to the less known Quartet No. 8, and both quartets, which clearly convey a yearning from far off, are framed by three songs, the Aus der Ferne at the begin of the album, followed by Hirtenmelodien (shepherd tunes) from Rosamunde and Du bist die Ruh (you are the rest) with which the album fades away. The program makes audible the close connection between Schubert's quartet and song compositions, which connection stems on the one hand from the fact that both kinds of compositions were performed in the same circles of friends and admirers of the too early diseased composer, and on the other hand arose from Schubert's strong inclination for a secondary exploitation of songs in favor of instrumental compositions. To reuse melodies in his instrumental compositions secondarily. A prominent example is the string quartet Der Tod und das Mädchen (the death and the girl), which quotes and varies Schubert's song of the same name in the variation movement. Another second use can be found on the album Aus der Ferne at the beginning and in the minuet of the Rosamunde Quartet in the form of a quote from the song Die Götter Griechenlands, which reappears in the minuet. By the way, in the Andante of the Rosamunde Quartet, the theme of the Interlude No. 3 of the incidental music for the drama Rosamunde is also quoted unchanged. The secondary exploitation of his own compositions was therefore had been on the agenda for Schubert not only for songs / string quartets, but also for orchestral / string quartets. The booklet of Aus der Ferne details this peculiarity in Schubert's compositions and provides further cross-references between the quartet and song compositions recorded on this album, which motivated the Signum Quartet to purposefully conceive the program of Schubert's compositions from Aus der Ferne.

Let the top-performing Signum Quartet on their new album take you on an exciting journey through selected Lied and quartet compositions by Schubert. Therefore, it pays off to download Aus der Ferne, especially as the label Pentatone once again lives up to its reputation of delivering best-in-class, high-resolution sound.

Signum Quartett