Thomas Christian Ensemble - Karl Weigl: String Quartets 4 & 6 · Intermezzi (2026) [Hi-Res]

Any closer examination of the later works of Austrian composer Karl Weigl soon and almost inevitably becomes a search for traces. Driven into exile in America by the delusions of a self-proclaimed master race, he, like many of his colleagues, remained so clearly attached to his cultural roots that the nostalgic look back across the pond to his homeland is noticeable even where he strikes comparatively advanced notes: He always preserves the tonal gravity, always also the unmistakable grace that he took with him and never lost - with the result that he still relies on the healing power of beauty in one of the most tragic moments of humanity (1939), when he entrusts his heartfelt, intimate prayer to the quartet, and two years later is able to compose Three Intermezzi, which from the first to the last bar reveal the Viennese he remained throughout his life.