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This album contains significant first recordings of new works by Thomas Larcher (born in Austria in 1963), increasingly regarded as an important voice in contemporary European music. Cornerstones of the album are the two big string quartets, "Ixxu" and "Cold Farmer", played with great intensity by the Rosamunde Quartet. The Munich-based quartet has built up a considerable following with varied ECM discs ranging from Haydn to Saluzzi, via Shostakovich, Mansurian and Silvestrov. The demands of Larcher's music, recorded with his participation, have brought forth exceptional performances. Christoph Poppen - heard as a violinist on ECM for the first time since the best-selling 'Morimur' of 2001 - performs "My Illness Is The Medicine I Need" (2001) with Larcher, Thomas Demenga on cello, and gifted American soprano Andrea Lauren Brown making her ECM debut. "Mumien" is played by Larcher and Demenga. Thomas Larcher is one of Europe's most engaged proselytisers for new music, highly regarded as a pianist and a festival organizer known for imaginative programming. His earliest ECM recordings featured him as insightful interpreter, his Schoenberg/Schubert set of Klavierstcke (1998) drawing wide praise. He has also been heard performing Heinz Holliger, Isang Yun, Webern, Milhaud, Berio, Dallapiccola and more. His first CD as composer, 'Naunz', was a Gramophone Editor's Choice. Recorded 2005 Personnel: Rosamunde Quartet: Andreas Reiner, Simon Fordham - (violins), Helmut Nicolai - (viola), Anja Lechner - (violoncello), Andrea Lauren Brown - (soprano), Christoph Poppen - (violin), Thomas Demenga - (violoncello) Thomas Larcher - (piano).