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Quatuor Diotima

Boulez Anniversary Concert

Quatuor Diotima holding broken instruments.

Performed by one of its outstanding interpreters, Boulez’s uncompromising Livre pour quatuor is at the heart of a centenary tribute to the composer referencing Webern, Bach, and impassioned Debussy. 

Begun in 1948 and refined over six decades – latterly in collaboration with tonight’s performers – Pierre Boulez’s restless and inquisitive string quartet reveals the exacting composer-conductor and fearless polemicist at his most exhilarating. It’s a work that embraces, in his own words, ‘deliberate austere bareness’ as well as ‘the most proliferating exuberance’, and is framed by music he particularly esteemed. 

‘What Quatuor Diotima bring to the table is a real sense of historical progression’ declares The Classic Review. And in a programme spanning Bach to Boulez, historical progression is ever-present. The Diotima Quartet’s 2016 recording of Livre pour quatuor is a landmark achievement.

This performance will end at approximately 9.30pm with a 20-minute interval before the Debussy piece. 

Produced by the Barbican

Part of Boulez 100

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Milton Court Concert Hall