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Die Grobte Fugue on CD

"Die Größte Fuge, an opera by Elliott Sharp, features bass baritone Nicholas Isherwood and the Asasello Quartet.

After 1815, Beethoven was beset with problems: physical, emotional, financial. Retreating into "fugue" states, he has visions, celestial and horrific, not hallucinations but visitations from a parallel reality of marvelous inventions, gleaming ships in the air, unheard musics, carnage beyond belief. Emerging, he translates these scenes into a music that stretches the rules to the verge of destruction. The resultant work, Die Größe Fuge, is considered the first 20th century string quartet.

Sharp created a libretto from letters and writings of Beethoven as well as taking elements from Die Größe Fuge as seed materials for extrapolation, randomization, and recombinance. Beethoven is presented as a disturbed and effecting figure, the tortured genius. The performers play Sharp's score, both apocalyptic and ecstatic, with incredible intensity."

1. Die Größte Fuge - Overture

2. Dieser Ton

3. Ein unerhörter Traum

4. Brüllen und Sturm

5. Wunder

6. Eine Rückgabe

7. Natur

8. Tod Erscheint

9. Die Sendung

10. Die Komedie ist Vorbei

11. Der Durchgang