Ligeti Quartet: Different Trains

LSO St Luke's Guest Artist

Ligeti Quartet bring Steve 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, co-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 Reich’s Different Trains, a landmark work inspired by his childhood train journeys during World War II. 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.

Programme: John Adams · Selections from John’s Book of Alleged Dances · Ana Sokolovic · Commedia dell’arte · Ben Nobuto · new work (Barbican co-commission) · Interval · Steve Reich · Different Trains — Ligeti Quartet