Interpreting compositional process in Wolfgang Rihm's Chiffre cycle

In Rihm's output the Chiffre works occupy a pivotal position. Despite some prefiguring in certain earlier works, such as the last movement of the fourth quartet, these are works which, as he has said, embody a conscious search for a musical language, a means of expression ('Die Stücke … sind Versuche, eine Musiksprache zu finden').1 The purpose of this article is to try to define key elements of the compositional process which Rihm developed through the Chiffre works.