KLAAS DE VRIES (b.1944): String Quartet No. 1, BART DE KEMP (1959-2005): Ciaccona, OSCAR VAN DILLEN (b.1958): String Quartet, ASTRID KRUISSELBRINK (b.1972): String Quartet, EDWARD TOP (b.1972): String Quartet, HANS KOOLMEES (b.1959): Rozen for Soprano, Glockenspiel, String Quartet and Tape.

Description: The quartet by de Vries consists of two strongly contrasting movements; the first enigmatic and fragmentary, with much use of gliding tones and harmonics, the second monolithic and aggressive, with the players directed to play as loudly as possible and in unison almost throughout. The Ciacona by de Kemp presents a theme played conventionally and passed around between instruments, while the accompanying material varies between thorny counterpoint and spatially divided pizzicati or a fast, chugging accompaniment, suggesting the incongruous appearance of a rhythm section. The van Dillen builds impressive spatial block textures alternated with strained harmonics and silence, while a fractured melodic line winds through the piece. Kruisselbrink's piece takes its inspiration fro three paintings by Edvard Munch, the flowing lines and violent juxtaposition of timbral colors echoing the painter's distinctive style. Also visually inspired is Top's quartet; Hieronymus Bosch this time. In a furiously active chromatic vocabulary with many sonic grotesqueries thrown in (and the Dies Irae for good measure) the piece mirrors the teeming nightmares of the painter's vision. Koolmees' work adds other instruments and a tape part; the work was originally part of a multi-media project; the music is stately and antiquated-sounding, with dissonant distortions, surrounded by an aura of birdsong. Doelen Quartet, Åsa Olsson (soprano), Wilbert Grootenboer (glockenspiel).