Manfred Trojahn is known for his compositional treatment of texts that reflect “the failure of the artist from various perspectives”. Above all, “Le Ceneri di Gramsci“ by Pier Paolo Pasolini and “Ein Brief“ by Hugo von Hofmannsthal comprise the intellectual foundation of the work, while Trojahn’s eponymous compositions offer the aesthetic and musical-rhetoric backdrop. Trojahn wrote this composition for the Kuss Quartet. This expressive work in three movements is characterized by sharp contrasts that juxtapose polyphonic elements and block-like structures, weaving a tight net of audible motivic connections.