Philip Glass – Company

John Pickard String Quartet No. 2
Sadie Harrison Aurea Luce
Carmen Ho The Way It Is
Carmen Ho Unknown (piano solo)
Thomas Ades O Albion
Philip Glass Company
John Cage 4’33”

Bristol Ensemble performs an intriguing programme of contemporary works in the unique setting of Bristol 1904 Arts Club.

Philip Glass’ String Quartet No.2 ‘ Company’ was commissioned by the Mabou Mines Foundation for the dramatisation of Samuel Beckett’s prose poem Company.

John Pickard’s String Quartet No.2 was first performed by the Allegri Quartet in the extraordinary Italianate village of Portmeirion in North Wales. It is a warm and lyrical work, which starts quietly and builds momentum, culminating in an energetic and optimistic conclusion.

4′33″ premiered in 1952 and was met with shock and widespread controversy; many musicologists revisited the very definition of music and questioned whether Cage’s work qualified as such. In fact, Cage intended 4′33″ to be experimental — to test the audience’s attitude to silence and prove that any auditory experience may constitute music, seeing that absolute silence cannot exist.

Works by Sadie Harrison, Carmen Ho and Thomas Ades complete the programme.

Tickets £20, available from Eventbrite.

We are grateful to the Vaughan Williams Foundation and Francis Routh Foundation for their support.