A Dark Flaring: Works for String Quartet from South Africa Signum Quartett

• Mokale Koapeng (b. 1963): Komeng:
• 1 Mokale Koapeng: Komeng 04:41
• Matthijs van Dijk (b. 1983): (rage) rage against the:
• 2 Dijk: (rage) rage against the 09:07
• Arnold van Wyk (1916 - 1983): 5 Elegies for String Quartet:
• 3 Wyk: 5 Elegies for String Quartet: No. 1, Molto lento, assai espressivo con tristezza 05:17
• 4 Wyk: 5 Elegies for String Quartet: No. 2, Allegro feroce 02:33
• 5 Wyk: 5 Elegies for String Quartet: No. 3, Adagio. Senza tempo e parlante 03:38
• 6 Wyk: 5 Elegies for String Quartet: No. 4, Allegretto, poco scherzando ed amabile 03:41
• 7 Wyk: 5 Elegies for String Quartet: No. 5, Allegro, appassionato e sempre in tempo giusto 04:26
• Péter Louis van Dijk: Iinyembezi: Glimpses of a Half-Forgotten Future:
• 8 Dijk: Iinyembezi 16:35
• Robert Fokkens (b. 1975):
• 9 Fokkens: Glimpses of a Half-Forgotten Future: I. Rhythmic 05:08
• 10 Fokkens: Glimpses of a Half-Forgotten Future: II. Brilliant 02:19
• 11 Fokkens: Glimpses of a Half-Forgotten Future: III. Tender But Still 06:54
• Priaulx Rainier (b. 1975): Quartet for Strings:
• 12 Rainier: Quartet for Strings: I. Allegro molto serioso 05:43
• 13 Rainier: Quartet for Strings: II. Vivace leggiero grazioso 02:40
• 14 Rainier: Quartet for Strings: III. Andante tranquillo 04:52
• 15 Rainier: Quartet for Strings: IV. Presto spiritoso 05:06
• Total Runtime 01:22:40

Info for A Dark Flaring: Works for String Quartet from South Africa

A Dark Flaring marks the Signum Quartett’s return to ECM’s New Series after debuting for the label with striking performances on Erkki-Sven Tüür’s acclaimed chamber music recording Lost Prayers (2020). Here, the quartet has put together a unique programme dedicated to South African composers, born in the 20th century, whose works for string quartet are united by the way they blend respect for the past with an instinct for the future in a wide-flung idiomatic scope. The grid of references unravelled between the six composers here – their dates of birth span from 1903 to 1983 – is as geographically wide as it is idiomatically deep, with large musical bridges connecting inspirations ranging from South African Xhosa and Zulu traditions through the late Renaissance to 19th century Romanticism as well as 20th century impressionists and minimalists. There’s even a nod to popular culture, as Matthijs van Dijk’s (rage) rage against the borrows inspiration for its title from the rock group Rage Against The Machine.

The complicated historical and in the same breath cultural backdrop that goes hand in hand with musical repertory composed over this specific period, in the South African context, is not only impossible to ignore but moreover serves as catalyst, canvas and disrupter – sometimes all at once – for most of the music presented here. The country after all didn’t become united until 1910, when South Africa was declared a self-governed country under the Commonwealth in the aftermath of the Anglo-Boer Wars. Apartheid ensued following the World Wars – racist segregational policies that lasted until 1990 and continue to be worked through, digested and dealt with today.

Whether writing at home or abroad, all six composers reflect their country’s complex and troubled history through music which is strikingly original. As Shirley Apthorp notes in the CD’s liner note, Mokale Koapeng’s Komeng, which opens the disc, “owes what is perhaps this recording’s most overt debt to the ancestors, drawing for its inspiration on ‘Umyeyezelo’, a celebratory song by Nofinishi Dywili.” Dywili was particularly accomplished in her use of complex polyrhythms, which Koapeng acknowledges by setting triple against duple metre. As Apthorp writes. “’Umyeyezelo’ is a song for the completion of Ulwaluko, the Xhosa initiation ritual which marks the transition from boyhood to manhood. ‘Komeng’ treats Dywili’s melody gently, using rocking rhythmic figures and col legno, a technique of striking the string with the wood of the bow, a direct invocation of the Uhadi.”

The programme continues with Matthijs van Dijk’s aforementioned rage, a piece that reflects the composer’s multi-disciplinary background by its use of a variety of techniques and sounds, densely packed into this explosive one-movement work. Similar in its dynamic scope, yet far more Romantic in its formal fabric, Arnold van Wyk’s Five Elegies For String Quartet (1940-1941) represent some of the earliest repertory here, only surpassed by Priaulx Rainier’s Quartet For Strings, which she completed in 1939. A student of Nadia Boulanger, among others, Rainier, as some of the other composers included here, moved to England for her studies. She lived there for most of her life, creating music that always remained, in one way or another, tied to the earliest music she heard growing up in Zululand, South Africa. As with many of the other works in this programme, the South African roots of the music can be found most prominently in its rhythmic components, bound to ostinatos and repetition.

Great variety in form and texture invigorate the Signum Quartett in its performances here, seemingly inciting a whirlwind of emotions as they travel across these broad musical streams. Gramophone magazine has described the quartet’s sound as “passionate, often brilliant, but also clear and lean” and their sensitive approach to these dynamically contrasting works is further evidence of the quartet’s accomplished craft. They excel with precision also in “iinyembezi”, a composition by Péter Louis van Dijk, which owes its heritage to John Dowland’s “Flow My Tears” on the one hand, and Xhosa tradition on the other. Downland’s theme is extrapolated through a series of variations, while an extended pizzicato section evokes the sound of the Mbira – the African thumb piano. What seems couldn’t be further musically apart, here unites coherently on the brink of tonality.

And like the works of his fellow compatriots, Robert Fokkens’s Glimpses of a half-forgotten future can’t evade a certain dichotomy in its musical inspirations either, with debt owed to Western classical composers John Cage, Morton Feldman and French spectralists, while at the same time drawing inspiration from the Xhosa Uhadi – the South African musical bow whose build and percussive qualities are reminiscent of the Brazilian Berimbau. Fokkens contextualises his string quartet – a stark reflection on the inevitability of our own demise – with the poem that gives this album its name:

Through now's incessant numbness Flickers a glint, A startling glimmer, A dark flaring...

Signum Quartet:
Florian Donderer, violin
Annette Walther, violin
Xandi van Dijk, viola
Thomas Schmitz, violoncello

The album was recorded at Sendesaal Bremen in March 2022

Signum Quartet
Performances of unsparing expressivity, intimacy and vitality are hallmarks of the Signum Quartet, pairing music making of the subtlest order with playing of the highest intensity. The dramatic composition of their programmes is innovative and distinct, and is realised with uncompromising perfection in interpretations of effortless transparency. (“enormously intelligent and knowledgeable programming”—Rondo Magazin)

The quartet has been a welcome guest at the Wigmore Hall London, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Philharmonie de Paris, Konzerthaus Vienna, Philharmonie Cologne, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and at the BBC Proms, with partners such as Nils Mönkemeyer, Dominique Horwitz, Jörg Widmann, Daniel Ottensamer, Nicolas Altstaedt and Elisabeth Leonskaja. In 2023 the ensemble will gave its debut at Carnegie Hall in New York and the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.

The Signum Quartet’s discography is a testament to their stylistic range: Next to the greats of the quartet literature, they have recorded works by Wolfgang Rihm, Thomas Adès, Jörg Widmann and Kevin Volans. Their recording of Erkki-Sven Tüür’s Second String Quartet Lost Prayers for ECM won Classical Album of the Year at the Estonian Music Awards 2021. “A dark flaring”, their follow-up album for ECM containing South African compositions, will be released in the spring of 2025.

Following their multi-award-winning album “Aus der Ferne” (Diapason D’Or, Opus Klassik), the Signum Quartet continued its Schubert cycle for PENTATONE with “Ins stille Land”, deepening its exploration of the fascinating connections between his string quartets and songs. (“The Signum’s ‘Death and the Maiden’ is up there with the best from a crowded field”—The Strad). 2023 saw the release of “Lebensmuth”, the final installment of their Schubert trilogy, which has garnered rave reviews and won a further OPUS Klassik in 2024 for Best Chamber Music Album of the Year.

In 2015, the quartet launched its innovative social media project #quartweet, where composers of all ages and abilities are invited to tweet a short quartet of 140 notes or less on Twitter. The project has received much media attention and been featured on Deutschlandfunk, BBC In Tune and BR U-21. Contributing composers include Bruno Mantovani, Grawemeyer Award winners Brett Dean and Sebastian Currier and Pulitzer Prize winner Caroline Shaw.

In 2024, the Signum Quartet launched their “Bridge the chasms that divide” project, commemorating 30 years since the fall of apartheid in South Africa. For this, they have invited some of South Africa‘s most original and powerful voices to reflect on their own experiences and journeys before and after 1994, including composers such as Abel Selaocoe and Dizu Plaatjies. This project saw premieres at the Cologne Philharmonie and Boulezsaal Berlin, and an album of the commissioned works will be released in 2026.

In 2022 the quartet established its Bremen-based project SIGNUM open space, supported by Neustart Kultur. This will be a site for rehearsals, recordings, workshops and education initiatives as well as an interactive exchange with the public. Additionally, there will be interdisciplinary projects such as exhibitions, readings, dance and seminars with renowned lecturers.

Booklet for A Dark Flaring: Works for String Quartet from South Africa