About the album
Michael Quell once described Günter Schwarze's composing and his understanding of not only music but also his life motto in an extremely apt and clever way as a search for “freedom in the context of collective suppression.” Formulated concisely and precisely, this is the key to understanding this composer. He was only able to maintain his inner resistance to collectivist coercion through his quiet but all the more deeply held faith, which gave him the strength to remain “silent,” to maintain his stance, to refuse to be corrupted throughout his life (similar to Georg Katzer in this respect, as well as in his choice of compositional means of expression), but not foolishly running into the arms of a superior opponent and thus surrendering himself to him. As a result, he always lives his religiosity quietly, it unfolds discreetly in his music. It does not seek to impose itself on anyone, and his “service,” his immense social competence, which he acquired over the years in various functions, such as church cantor and university professor, is nourished by it. His understanding of culture, his extremely respectful treatment of different cultural circles and their artistic means, also shaped his composing throughout his life.
Modi, in the tradition of leitmotifs, generates Bach-like provenance through letters assigned to intervals, forming a musically commentary-like contrast against a cleverly arranged illustrative backdrop, especially in Schwarz's oratorical works. His “quiet” composing, his unpretentious manner, not only in music, correlates with his fondness for porcelain chimes and glass chimes, for whose musical development and subsequent renaissance in public life he was the decisive promoter.