Ligeti Quartet: Different Trains

Ligeti Quartet bring Reich’s Different Trains into sharp focus alongside Adams, Sokolovic and a world premiere by Ben Nobuto.

The award-winning Ligeti Quartet explore music shaped by rhythm, memory and technology. The programme opens with selections from John Adams’ John’s Book of Alleged Dances and Ana Sokolovic’s Commedia dell’arte, before a world premiere by Ben Nobuto, commissioned by the Barbican. Written for string quartet and tape, Nobuto’s new work builds on Reich’s techniques while exploring new ways for live performers to interact with electronics.

After the interval comes Steve Reich’s Different Trains, a landmark work inspired by Reich’s childhood train journeys during the Second World War. Voices of train conductors, Holocaust survivors and Reich’s governess are woven into the live strings. For this performance, the tape has been remastered for spatialised sound, bringing fresh depth to this Grammy-winning classic.

There will be a 20 minute interval, and the performance is expected to end around 9.15pm.

Programme

John Adams Selections from John’s Book of Alleged Dances
Ana Sokolovic Commedia dell’arte
Ben Nobuto world premiere (Barbican co-commission)
Interval
Steve Reich Different Trains

Performers

Ligeti Quartet