String Sextet (“The Bridges of Königsberg”)

Date:

October 17, 2023

Location:

St Martin in the Fields, Trafalgar Sq, London WC2N 4JJ

Event Web Site:

https://www.stmartin-in-the-fields.org/calendar/the-consone-quartet-brahms-sextet-no-2/?whatson-event-date=2023-10-17&whatson-event-time=7:30%20PM

A new work commissioned by Penny Wright and Andrew Neubauer for the Consone Quartet, plus cellist Guy Fishman and viola Renée Hemsing.

While the subtitle refers to a well-known mathematical puzzle, it also gives a link to a chamber opera that I have wanted to do for almost 40 years, The Last Days of Immanuel Kant, based on the text by Thomas de Quincy. I may or may not ever get the chance to write this opera but I have already composed satellite works that are linked to it: The Old Tower of Löbenicht (for ensemble) as well as And So Ended Kant’s Travelling in this World (for five-part choir). Königsberg, now Kaliningrad, was where Kant lived for his entire life, and where he established unerringly repetitive daily routines.

The Consone Quartet is a wonderful young period instrument quartet, which was selected for the BBC New Generation Artists scheme, specialising in clear and honest interpretations of classical and romantic repertoire. Guy Fishman and Renée Hemsing are two of the finest American baroque music specialists, based in Boston, USA.

Programme

Haydn – String Quartet in E flat, No. 6, Op. 64
Gavin Bryars – String Sextet ‘The Bridges of Königsberg’ (London premiere)
Brahms – String Sextet No. 2 in G, Op. 36 

Performers

The Consone Quartet 
with
Renée Hemsing Viola
Guy Fishman Cello

Gavin Bryars