Ligeti Quartet: Remembering the Future
J. S. Bach (arr. Birtwistle) Three Fugues from The Art of Fugue (2008)
Webern String Quartet, Op. 28 (1936)
Joanna Bailie Five Famous Adagios (2006)
Stef Conner Singing Strings (2017)
Stravinsky Concertino for String Quartet (1920)
Sofia Gubaidulina Reflections on the Theme B-A-C-H (2002)
Georg Friedrich Haas String Quartet No. 2 (1998)
This programme takes its title from Luciano Berio’s series of lectures
‘Remembering the Future’ which ‘invite us to revise or suspend our
relation with the past and to rediscover it as part of a future
trajectory’. All of the pieces here play with ideas around historical
elements in some way.
Sofia Gubaidulina and Harrison Birtwistle pay homage in different ways
to one of J.S. Bach’s greatest achievements, The Art of Fugue, whilst at
the same time bringing in their own voices to
varying degrees.
The music of Webern can be seen to have many of the same properties as
Bach, particularly in its intricate contrapuntal construction. Op. 28 is
one his last works and its use of twelve-tone technique is so distilled
that it can be seen as paving the way for total serialism, employed by
composers such as Stockhausen, whose aim was to a break with tradition
and to create music coming only from within itself.
The Concertino is one of the first examples of Stravinsky's neoclassical
period, in which he combines eclectic elements from different eras into
his own unique voice. Georg Friedrich Haas
is regarded as one of the most important composers of the 21st century
and his second quartet, written just before the turn of the new
millennium, creates a soundscape in which ‘tradition shines through
again and again, but it appears as lost, distant, clouded’.
Alongside these pieces is the world premiere of Stef Conner's 'Singing
Strings', in which the Ligeti Quartet will take you on a musically and
verbally guided tour of the history of the string quartet, from its
origins to right now.
TICKETS: £16; early bird: £12; students: £5. Available from ADC Ticketing. T: 01223 300085; E: boxoffice@adctheatre.com; W: www.adcticketing.com
