Beethoven Bartók Now: Experiments

Part of the Solem Quartet’s Beethoven Bartók Now series, BBN: Experiments features a new work from one of the brightest stars of the music world, Ayanna Witter-Johnson, who will perform live in collaboration with the Solem Quartet. Her piece takes inspiration from Jamaican folk song to create a work that defies genre.

The programme will also feature experimental works from two historic composers: in the Grosse Fugue, Beethoven pushed boundaries creating ‘music that will be contemporary forever’ according to Stravinsky, while Bartók’s Third Quartet sees the composer finding his true voice, channelling the Eastern-European folk music he so loved.

BBN: ‘Experiments’ – featuring Ayanna Witter-Johnson (composer/cello/vocals)

Beethoven Quartet in B flat major, op. 133, Grosse Fugue
Bartok Quartet No. 3, BB 93
Witter-Johnson Island Suite (Welsh Premiere)

In Memory of Peter Kingswood 1934-2021
Sacconi Quartet
Bridge Lament for 2 violas Robin Ashwell and Graham Oppenheimer (viola)
Mozart Quintet in G minor K516 with Graham Oppenheimer (viola)

Mendelssohn Octet in Eb, Op. 20 with the Solem Quartet

Maria Hegele (mezzo-soprano)
Solem Quartet
Anthony Friend (clarinet)
Simon Lane (piano)

Metcalf String Quartet, Towards Silence
Brahms, arr. Reimann 5 Ophelia-Lieder for voice and string quartet
Chausson Chanson Perpétuelle, op. 37
Barber Dover Beach
Blackford Clarinet Quintet, Full Moon

Beethoven Bartók Now: Experiments
…and Stories

Bela Bartók – a selection of the duos for 2 violins
Bela Bartók – Quartet no. 3
Ludwig van Beethoven – Quartet in B flat major, op. 133, Grosse Fugue
Ayanna Witter-Johnson – Island Suite

The celebrated songwriter, composer, pianist and cellist Ayanna Witter-Johnson joins the acclaimed Solem Quartet for this thought provoking, high-energy, and cathartic presentation of music and readings, all of which combine to inform the present.

Laced together via the words of the archetypal experimenters, Bartók and Beethoven, in which they describe the thinking behind their respective ground breaking masterpieces, the Solem Quartet perform Beethoven’s Grosse Fugue and Bartók’s Third Quartet before being joined by Ayanna Witter-Johnson to perform her specially composed ‘Island Suite’. Ayanna’s piece is a musical and narrative journey which takes inspiration from Jamaican folk song to create a work that defies genre, and tells the story of Ayanna Witter-Johnson’s ancestry.

Felix Mendelssohn String Quartet no. 5 in E flat major, op. 44, no. 3
Henriëtte Bosmans Quartet
Ludwig van Beethoven Quartet in A minor, op. 132