Haas: Nach-Ruf ... ent-gleitend ..., für Flöte, Oboe, Klarinette, Violine, Viola und Violoncello

For the composer, the work on the piece was a compositional challenge – for listeners, it is an aesthetic experience. Haas writes: “Nach-Ruf … ent-gleitend … is another of my involvements with the series of partials. Whereas, in earlier works, the pitch structure was determined by altering the instruments (untuned strings of the bowed instruments in the chamber opera Nacht and in String Quartet No. 1, retuning the piano in the improvisatory piece Nacht), microtonal intonation is left exclusively up to the players in Nach-Ruf … ent-gleitend …”

The uninterrupted flux of sound and the composer’s sonic imagination are fascinating for listeners; the six instruments play in various groupings or alone, constantly changing the Klangfarbe. Although the hyphen in the title reminds us that this is not an obituary(Nachruf), the impression still remains that it is a lament, especially at the outset; while the winds sustain pitches in the high register, the strings play melody fragments below which seem to cast forth a sadness, even threnody.

The melodies disappear in the course of the work (to return in altered form at the end); the aforementioned flux of iridescent, constantly intermingling sounds characterises the music.