Seeking new music with the Arditti in Dublin

By Cynthia Wilson, 09 March 2014

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Reviewed at National Concert Hall: Main Stage, Dublin on 6 March 2014

Haas, String Quartet no. 1

Abrahamsen, Quartet no. 4

Xenakis, Tetras

Arditti String Quartet

The Arditti Quartet turns 40 in style

Katy Wright, 26th April

Celebrating 40 years of championing the contemporary string quartet, the Arditti Quartet concluded a day-long marathon with six quartets from composers around the globe. Polished beyond belief, they gave mesmerising performances.

*****

Wigmore Hall celebrates Irvine Arditti at 60

Paul Kilbey, 16th October

Irvine Arditti is turning 60 this year, but the real landmark perhaps comes next year, when his eponymous string quartet turns 40. The astonishing amount of good they have done contemporary music in this time deserves a ton of celebration in 2014.

****1

Prom 5: Helmut Lachenmann vs. Gustav Mahler with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra

Georgina Hastings, 15th July

The fifth Prom of the 2013 season welcomed Jonathan Nott and the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra to the Royal Albert Hall, with the Arditti String Quartet as soloists. Nott and his orchestra became an award-winning partnership in 2010, winning the MIDEM Award for their recording of Mahler’s Ninth Symphony.

****1

Eight extraordinary string players meet: The Arditti and JACK Quartets combine at Wigmore Hall

Paul Kilbey, 6th May

The volume was that of a string quartet on steroids, but the sound was that of eight extraordinary string players each playing slightly different things. James Clarke’s 2012-S, for two string quartets, gave an explosive, subtle start to the Arditti and JACK Quartets’ joint Wigmore Hall recital this Monday.

****1

The Arditti Quartet play new music at the Wigmore Hall

Paul Kilbey, 31st October

As a non-composer, I always find it a little disconcerting when composers completely disagree with me about new music. And when I talk to two composers separately, and they offer matching opinions opposed to my own – as happened last night at the Wigmore Hall – I definitely end up feeling slightly wrong-footed.

****1

The Arditti Quartet play Nancarrow and Ligeti

Paul Kilbey, 22nd April

Conlon Nancarrow may be most famous for his player piano studies, all of which were performed at the Southbank Centre last weekend, but his instrumental music is worth a listen too. His Third String Quartet is perhaps his most important effort for 'actual' performers rather than machines, but on Sunday night the Arditti Quartet also made a decent case for the First Quartet.

****1

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Cynthia Wilson

Boston-born, educated at Concord Academy and Sarah Lawrence College, Cynthia Wilson studied harpsichord in Amsterdam. She has performed, taught and held significant management positions: public radio, Philips Hall, Rotterdam Philharmonic. Wilson subsequently founded wwclassics: (arts) policy and (events) production. She recently published the biography of Menahem Pressler (Beaux Arts Trio).