Peter Ruzicka has made a tremendous impact on the world of music for decades, not only as a general director (among others, at the Salzburg Festival, Hamburg State Opera and the Munich Biennale) as well as being in high demand internationally as a conductor and composer. On July 3, 2018 Peter Ruzicka celebrated his 70th birthday. This CD, the seventh featuring his music in the NEOS catalogue, is being released to honour this occasion.

The Minguet Quartet won the 2010 ECHO Klassik Award for its complete recording of string quartets by Ruzicka (Nos. 1?6 at the time). This CD is a logical and perhaps necessary continuation of the series: In addition to String Quartet No. 7 ? which, at over 40 minutes in length is far more extensive than its predecessors ? it includes CLOUDS 2 for string quartet and orchestra conducted by the composer. Ruzicka says that in this work he was guided by the image of music that is searching for a sound which he has never himself heard before, and which has never previously occurred in all his works.

Peter Ruzicka was commissioned to compose CLOUDS by the German broadcaster Hessischer Rundfunk for the 2012 Rheingau Festival. After the premiere performance, he revised the score, creating an extended version entitled CLOUDS 2. The newly composed second movement assigns the string quartet a substantially more pronounced role, which, in opposition to the orchestra, weaves a second level into the tonal architecture of the work.