Ensemble Sortisatio is a

quartet In music, a quartet or quartette (, , , , ) is an ensemble of four singers or instrumental performers; or a musical composition for four voices and instruments. Classical String quartet In classical music, one of the most common combinations ...

(viola, oboe/cor anglais, bassoon and guitar) founded by

violist ; german: Bratsche , alt=Viola shown from the front and the side , image=Bratsche.jpg , caption= , background=string , hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow , range= , related= *Violin family ...

Matthias Sannemüller in 1992 in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

, Germany. Its members are mostly soloists at the

MDR Symphony Orchestra MDR may refer to: Biology * MDR1, an ATP-dependent cellular efflux pump affording multiple drug resistance * Mammalian Diving reflex * Medical device reporting * Multiple drug resistance, when a microorganism has become resistant to multiple drugs ...

. They have specialized in

contemporary classical music Contemporary classical music is classical music composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945 modern forms of post-tonal music after the death of Anton Webern, and included se ...

Formation

The Ensemble Sortisatio was founded in 1992 by Matthias Sannemüller in the city of Leipzig. Sannemüller was a pupil from Dietmar Hallmann and member of the

Gruppe Neue Musik Hanns Eisler Gruppe Neue Musik Hanns Eisler was an ensemble of musicians founded in 1970 in Leipzig with a focus on contemporary classical music, which played several world premieres and toured internationally. The ensemble disbanded in 1993. History The ens ...

. The name comes from the Sortisatio concept and refers to the casual combination of the instruments in the ensemble. The idea came from the composer

Reiner Bredemeyer Reiner Bredemeyer (2 January 1929 − 5 December 1995) was a German composer. He was born in Vélez, Santander and went to school in Breslau. In 1944 he was drafted into military service and was briefly held as a prisoner of war of the American ...

. Members of the quartet are

Walter Klingner Walter Klingner (born 1961) is a German oboist and cor anglais player. Life Born in Gotha, Klingner studied oboe with Axel Schmidt at the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt, Weimar. He now works there as a lecturer. Since 1986, he is Solo En ...

(

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range. ...

and

cor anglais The cor anglais (, or original ; plural: ''cors anglais''), or English horn in North America, is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family. It is approximately one and a half times the length of an oboe, making it essentially an al ...

), Axel Andrae ( bassoon), Matthias Sannemüller (

viola ; german: Bratsche , alt=Viola shown from the front and the side , image=Bratsche.jpg , caption= , background=string , hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow , range= , related= *Violin family ...

) and Thomas Blumenthal (

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

). They are mostly soloists at the

in Leipzig. Sortisatio is today one of the most unusual ensembles in Germany.Musicarama 2009
It inspired many national and international composers to write for them. They have worked with

Karl Ottomar Treibmann Karl Ottomar Treibmann (14 January 1936 – 13 February 2017) was a German composer and music educator. From 1981 until his retirement in 2001, he was professor of music theory and at the Leipzig University. He was one of the representatives of ...

, Günter Neubert,

Thomas Müller Thomas Müller (; born 13 September 1989) is a German professional footballer who plays for club Bayern Munich and the Germany national team. A versatile player, Müller has been deployed in a variety of attacking roles – as an attacking ...

, Christian Münch, Thomas Buchholz,

Steffen Schleiermacher Steffen Schleiermacher (born Halle, 3 May 1960) is a German composer, pianist, and conductor.Homepage
of Steffen ...

, Thomas Christoph Heyde,

Helmut Oehring Helmut Oehring (born 1961) is a German composer. He was born in East-Berlin, the son of deaf-mute parents. After training as a construction worker, Oehring worked as a cemetery gardener, forest worker, geriatric nurse and stoker. He is self-taught ...

, Gerd Domhardt and other German composers.

8 Pieces on Paul Klee

The Swiss/Austrian Groupe Lacroix (

Marianne Schroeder Marianne Schroeder (born 1949 in Reiden) is a Swiss pianist and composer. She studied with Giacinto Scelsi. She played at Carnegie Hall, Lucerne Festival and Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. She worked with John Cage and Shigeru Kan-no. She is ...

, John Wolf Brennan, Jean-Luc Darbellay, Christian Henking, Michael Schneider, Michael Radanovics and

Alfons Karl Zwicker Alfons Karl Zwicker (born 22 April 1952) is a Swiss composer, pianist and painter. Life Born in St. Gallen, Zwicker began as a painter and designer. He created several paintings, which were exhibited between 1973 and 1980. Zwicker then studied ...

) and Thüring Bräm dedicated '' 8 Pieces on Paul Klee'' to the Anniversary of the Central German Broadcasting. This composers group attended a master class with the Russian musician

Edison Denisov Edison Vasilievich Denisov (russian: Эдисо́н Васи́льевич Дени́сов, 6 April 1929 – 24 November 1996) was a Russian composer in the so-called " Underground", "alternative" or "nonconformist" division of Soviet music. ...

. The work after

Paul Klee Paul Klee (; 18 December 1879 – 29 June 1940) was a Swiss-born German artist. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. Klee was a natural draftsman who experimented wi ...

was first performed by the Ensemble in Germany and Switzerland. Hong Kong composer Chan Wing-wah dedicated a trio Oriental Garden on Paul Klee in Bern & Winterthur to the Ensemble Sortisatio. Chan invited them to

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

in 2009.

Ensemble Sortisatio

Sortisatios second record consists of compositions written by

Michael Stöckigt Michael Stöckigt (born 1957) is a German composer and pianist. His father is the East German pianist Siegfried Stöckigt. In 1973 Michael Stöckigt became a master student in composition of Günter Kochan at the Berlin College of Music "Hanns ...

Gerd Sannemüller Gerd Sannemüller (19 October 1914, Heilbad Heiligenstadt – 13 June 2008) was a German composer, pianist and musicologist. After his Abitur in Stralsund he studied musicology with Arnold Schering and Georg Schünemann as well as history, philos ...

Pēteris Vasks Pēteris Vasks (born 16 April 1946) is a Latvian composer. Biography Vasks was born in Aizpute, Latvia, into the family of a Baptist pastor. He trained as a violinist at the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music, as a double-bass player wi ...

from Latvia, Thomas Böttger, Jean-Luc Darbellay from Switzerland, Helmut Bieler and Jean-Louis Petit from France.

Repertoire (Extract)

The following works were specially composed for the Ensemble Sortisatio:

Discography

References

German musical groups Music in Leipzig Contemporary classical music ensembles Chamber music groups Musical groups established in 1992 Musical quartets {{Classical-ensemble-stub