The title is a quote from the essay 'The Rose of Paracelsus' by Jorge Luis Borges. This parable is about the secret of the creation of a miracle, the disappearance and reappearance of the rose as well as the way to success and the way as reward.The Quartet consists of eight movements and a postscriptum. All odd movements float inside a sphere of maximum distance (lontano); they do not have to 'sound', they shall only be there and shine – on the verge of appearance and disappearance of sound. All even movements belong to a sphere of maximum presence and tension (espressivo); they are based on a spectrum of chromatic and micro-chromatic intervals. The compositional principle of the mostly broken monody makes the four instruments often sound like a 'mono instrument'. (A. Raskatov)The work received the composition award of the Salzburg Easter Festival in 1998.