Valentin Silvestrov

Quartetto Piccolo - Icon

The edition contains two string quartet miniatures which are 43 years apart. Quartetto piccolo (1961) is Valentin Silvestrov's first twelve-note composition which consists of three little movements merging into each other attacca. Though created at an early age, the work is anything but the work of a pupil: It is especially in the 2nd movement that the 'touch' of the older Silvestrov can already be felt. 'Icon' was composed in 2004 for the Rosamunde Quartet. It is a calm and introverted composition in the style of a prayer. Its specific modality would hardly have emerged in the œuvre of a composer who had not gone through the 'purgatory' of dodecaphony.