Commissioned by the Ligeti Quartet, with the generous support of the Britten-Pears Foundation, the RVW Trust, and St John's Smith Square.
A ‘mixtape’ format intersperses movements from Christian Mason’s Tuvan Songbook with other types of ‘song’ - the translucent modernism of Ruth Crawford Seeger, the electronic and pop aesthetic of Tanya Tagaq, and Beethoven's Cavatina, the highly original 5th movement of his Op 130 quartet.
This concert showcases the expansion of the string quartet repertoire to include music from beyond the Western classical tradition. Christian Mason’s Tuvan Songbook is part of a series of Songbooks to be commissioned by the Ligeti Quartet, each based on a tradition of overtone singing from around the world. ‘Melodicles’ is a musical concept invented by American composer Lou Harrison, whose centenary is celebrated in 2017. His String Quartet Set borrows from medieval European and Eastern influences.
The Ligeti Quartet's third concert as Quartet in Residence at the University of Sheffield.