Metamorphoses — Ligeti Quartet
Past Events
7.30pm, £10, £8 (University of Sheffield Staff/Over 65), £5 (Students/Under 26/Unwaged)
Meet the LIgeti Quartet – our associate artists in residence who execute electrifying performances of modern string quartet music. They curate and make series of innovative concerts for the city, and cultivate ambition and talent by working with students and schools to shape and make the musicians of the future.
This is a concert conceived as sonic mass; in shape and form, transforming from beginning to end. Featuring the works of two innovators in mathematical construction, Nancarrow’s early String Quartet is a labyrinth of blues inspired counterpoint, whilst the visceral possibilities of texture are explored in Iannis Xenakis’s brutally virtuosic Tetras.
Three composers who radically transform folk traditions into new musical languages also feature. Bartók’s tightly woven Third String Quartet grows from a haunting opening into dance-like melodies, and Ligeti’s dazzling First Quartet hints at the extreme abstraction and occasional absurdity that would later become hallmarks of his style. Christian Mason’s also explores folk traditions, by applying the overtone properties of Tuvan throat singing to string instruments.
