for string quartet (2023), 80 seconds
for Katrin and Werner Rabus on their 80th birthday
by CHEN Chengwen + Tobias Klich

A musical portrait of Katrin and Werner Rabus in 80 seconds for their 80th birthday, written for the string quartet PULSE. In this piece, the letters of the name Rabus are read as pitches, while the numbers of their year of birth, 1943, are interpreted as durations of the sounds. This principle is subsequently applied to the names Katrin and Werner and, above all, to the location of their former gallery: Plantage 13 in Bremen. Shortly before the end of the piece, which comprises a total of 13 bars, there are 13 pizzicato chords, each formed from the five Rabus notes. At the very end, an interval remains that has great significance for Katrin and Werner Rabus as founding members of tritonus e.V.: This tritone – which is already contained in the Rabus-chord itself – radiates beyond Plantage 13 at the end and forms a long echo of Katrin and Werner Rabus.

premiere: 26.11.2023 | Plantage 13 Bremen
PULSE: Johannes Haase, Lola Rubio, Yuko Hara, Jakob Nierenz