Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Apo do (van hier), for string quartet (1982)
I.
II. Quasi da capo senza fine [6:05]
III. Quasi da capo senza fine [11:04]
Arditti String Quartet
Spahlinger, who received his training in classical music and jazz has, by his own account, developed his own style. The string quartet Apo do from 1982 bears a resemblance to that of Helmut Lachenmann, but in this work Spahlinger uses silence much more as “sound.” The basis of the work was formed by a poem (From Here to the Sun) by the Greek poet Jannis Ritsos, which deals with the German occupation of Greece during the Second World War.
The music for the string instruments is not written for the usual sounds of those instruments. The participants play flautando, flageolet, press and rub strings and instruments, and sometimes also make their instruments produce sighing sounds. The music is “filled” with long general pauses. The difference with Lachenmann also lies in the fact that there is a unison tone in movements 1 and 2; the A-flat, which is supposed to provide rest but actually causes unrest in all movements, the unison tone falls out of tune.
The work consists of three untitled movements; however, the last two movements form a double coda to movement 1. The composer therefore leaves it ambiguous whether the work has a true ending. At the end of movement two or three, one can simply start all over again. The composer assumes that no two performances are alike. It also stands out as a performance with multiple repetitions, a kind of minimal music. The shortest performance (all three movements only once) lasts approximately 11 minutes.
The composer himself draws a parallel with Samuel Beckett's play "Play." In that play, the first performance also serves to give an impression of the entire work, but before one actually realizes it, the play starts all over again. One thus gets the impression that the play could go on forever.
Apo do was written commissioned by the Goethe Institute of Athens and also received its first performance there. [wikipedia.org]
Art by Eirene Efstathiou
Apo do (van hier), for string quartet (1982)
I.
II. Quasi da capo senza fine [6:05]
III. Quasi da capo senza fine [11:04]
Arditti String Quartet
Spahlinger, who received his training in classical music and jazz has, by his own account, developed his own style. The string quartet Apo do from 1982 bears a resemblance to that of Helmut Lachenmann, but in this work Spahlinger uses silence much more as “sound.” The basis of the work was formed by a poem (From Here to the Sun) by the Greek poet Jannis Ritsos, which deals with the German occupation of Greece during the Second World War.
The music for the string instruments is not written for the usual sounds of those instruments. The participants play flautando, flageolet, press and rub strings and instruments, and sometimes also make their instruments produce sighing sounds. The music is “filled” with long general pauses. The difference with Lachenmann also lies in the fact that there is a unison tone in movements 1 and 2; the A-flat, which is supposed to provide rest but actually causes unrest in all movements, the unison tone falls out of tune.
The work consists of three untitled movements; however, the last two movements form a double coda to movement 1. The composer therefore leaves it ambiguous whether the work has a true ending. At the end of movement two or three, one can simply start all over again. The composer assumes that no two performances are alike. It also stands out as a performance with multiple repetitions, a kind of minimal music. The shortest performance (all three movements only once) lasts approximately 11 minutes.
The composer himself draws a parallel with Samuel Beckett's play "Play." In that play, the first performance also serves to give an impression of the entire work, but before one actually realizes it, the play starts all over again. One thus gets the impression that the play could go on forever.
Apo do was written commissioned by the Goethe Institute of Athens and also received its first performance there. [wikipedia.org]
Art by Eirene Efstathiou
