Baldrian Quartett - Entschlummern Sollst Du, Sollst Entschlummern [Bruit 011]

Put out on the circuit via the Bruit imprint as their cat.no. 011 on June 10th, 2k22 is "Entschlummern Sollst Du, Sollst Entschlummern", the latest full length album effort by the famed Baldrian Quartett which takes on four string quartet compositions allegedly written by composer Frieda Bertelsohn Martholdy throughout her short, and somewhat tragic, life from 1878 to 1907. Allegedly, because the internet has taught us to be skeptical about each and everything and even though the CD booklet contains detailed, yet somewhat nebulous information about Bertelsohn Martholdy's life mentioning her being somewhat of a musical wunderkind which somehow anticipated 20th century composition techniques without having access to a proper instrument in her later years are to be taken with a grain of salt and point toward an elaborate hoax rather than toward a true story from our perspective. This being said, the music featured on "Entschlummern Sollst Du, Sollst Entschlummern" comes across as a rather contemporary affair, gravitating to a realm of brittle Minimal Ambient / Minimal Music rather than towards Modern or Contemporary Classical which might also be suggested by the albums artwork which pays homage to the classic layout of record companies like Deutsche Grammophon with the opening title track being comprised of fragile high frequency dronings, electroacoustic movements and what seem to be computational bleeps of a retrofuturist nature as well as extended periods of near silence which are also found in the subsequent cut that is "Schaurig Empfundene Nähe", a piece also incorporating microtonal airflows, echoes of scraping surface noises as well as deep and heartfelt nocturnal melancholia. Furthermore "Ode Für Den Tod (Fragment)" pairs more minimalist string dronings with calamitous bass presence, Field Recordings and an overall ominous atmosphere of sorts before "Ich Habe Genug" rounds things off on a rather rhythmically defined and dynamic tip in comparison to its predecessors. Recommended to all fans and followers of electroacoustic composition, this one.

Album artwork on Instagram!