Wolfgang Rihm is a real phenomenon: his overwhelming creative energy was already present during his childhood. He began composing when he was only 11 years old, long before his studies at the Hochschule für Musik in Karlsruhe where he successfully passed the state examination in composition and music theory. The current CD featuring string quartets and quintets presents works from the early and late stages of his compositional oeuvre.

Rihm composed the String Quartet in G minor as a 14-year old schoolboy. The youthful work displays a close proximity to early Beethoven. Stylistically, this quartet also shows many similarities to the String Quartet 1968 written a few years later.

The Epilog for string quintet which forges a link with the late works of Schubert was composed 45 years later. Despite its affinity with Schubert’s Romanticism, the composition is clearly contemporary in style, not least due to its advanced playing techniques.

Geste zu Vedova is a homage to the Venezuelan artist Emilio Vedova (1919–2006). This music is a percussive and block-like reaction to the kinesis and energy of the artist’s creative approach to his works that had such a profound impression on Rihm.