The string quartets of Peter Klatzow

Abstract

The string quartet genre has been the vehicle for some of the most sublime and profoundly beautiful chamber music penned by great composers for nearly two hundred and fifty years. This 'burden' of the great tradition of string quartet writing has been intimidating for some composers, many of whom regard it as the supreme form of chamber music. Peter Klatzow's string quartets strike a balance between a sharp intellectual approach on the one hand and an easily accessible one on the other. In his three string quartets Klatzow succeeds in displaying this duality of expression and these works can thus be regarded as milestones in the chamber music repertoire. They also show, over three decades, the composer's coming of age. This article is an attempt to demonstrate this through descriptive analyses of these works.