Transparent Glass: The Smith Quartet at St John's Smith Square

This Saturday afternoon concert by the Smith Quartet – the first in a two-concert series that would present the complete string quartets of Michael Nyman, including the UK première of his String Quartet no.

Five string quartets performed by four musicians – each musician with an intricate understanding of the world of new music. The Smith Quartet are well established as being the modern music quartet to hear in the United Kingdom – having commissioned over 200 new works and working with the likes of Reich, Nyman and Glass – if you are a fan of minimalism.

Do you remember when Steve Reich, “America’s greatest living composer”, came to your school concert and you performed his seminal work Clapping Music with the great man? No? Well, Joshua Kellie does. Joshua was one of the talented (and fortunate) St Paul’s School pupils chosen to perform in a concert in honour of the minimalist composer on his 75th birthday.

Se escucha por primera vez en España La pasión de Buda, con el propio compositor, Tan Dun, en la dirección, en una velada de notable ejecución por parte de la OCNE de una interesante obra que ahonda en la tradición budista.

El pianista ruso Artem Kuznetsov interpretó admirablemente a Rachmaninov y a Prokofiev en una velada en la que las composiciones rusas dialogaban con la tradición italiana bajo la elegante batuta de Catherine Larsen-Maguire.

El director alemán, Karl-Heinz Steffens, por vez primera al frente de la Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, se reveló como un excelente maestro que entresacó de la agrupación una interpretación sobrecogedora.