Im wachen Traume
("
In a Waking Dream
") is a release by the
Delian Quartett
, but none of the music here was actually composed for string quartet. Instead, the quartet and soprano
Claudia Barainsky
draw dual analogies, one between the string quartet and the viol consort, and the other of the German Romantic lied, specifically
Robert Schumann
's
Frauenliebe und Leben, Op. 42
(from which the album title comes), to English song of the Renaissance. Love and death top off the package as recurring themes. It sounds as though there is a lot going on here, and there is, maybe too much, but it is worth noting that the arrangements are by established composers,
Stefano Pierini
in the English viol pieces and
Aribert Reimann
in
Frauenliebe und Leben
; the latter was
Reimann
's last completed work before his death, and it is an intriguing take on
Schumann
's cycle, not simply a 19th century arrangement of the work for a home instrumental ensemble but a probing of its deeper themes. This is the kind of album that will likely be received quite differently by different listeners; either it will click or it won't. The idea of playing viol music on a string quartet is not new, but the package as a whole very much is. As usual,
ECM
's sound from the Abtei Marienmünster is first-rate and succeeds in creating the mystic atmosphere the performers were looking for. ~ James Manheim