The Expanded Violin
LSO St Luke’s London

EIGHT composers, curated by Anselm McDonnell, were given the brief to explore the tonal and sonic boundaries of the violin in his second event for the LSO in 2024.

The Irish-Welsh composer based in Belfast has composed over 90 works for orchestra, chamber groups and electronics, performed all over the world, and for this event two of his works were performed. 

The musicians Mira Benjamin, Larissa O’Grady, Chihiro Ono and Amalia Young made up the quartet, who also used an assortment of electronic backing. They played in the round in Jerwood Hall under a constructed sound absorbent baffle, with a tasteful projection of shifting shapes and subtle tonal lighting, designed to match the mood of each composition.

First up was McDonnell’s work Rusted Sugar, composed for solo violin, played by O’Grady. The work started with the playback of distant chimes and electronic bleeps before O’Grady began, playing long-held notes, then stabs of cluster notes and traditional chord progressions, all designed to explore the world of musical intervals smaller than a semitone and setting them into a world of quarter tones. 

O’Grady’s interpretation was as committed as the writing demanded, ending with fading electronic dance beats and bass. 

Next up came Kaija Saariaho’s Nocturne, also for solo violin, played by Young — work of intense rhythms and dynamic split-note harmonic phrasing — and Kalevi Aho’s Lamento work for two violins, a soulful tribute to the Finnish violinist Sakari Laukola, that creates a melancholic mood and is played in perfect unison. 

Leo Chadburn’s De La Salle brought the first half to an end using the full quartet. The piece is a rhythmic and melodic cinematic tour de force in which one can discern influences from Steve Reich to Hans Zimmer, and which includes passages of graceful quiet ambience. 

Thereafter, Ian Wilson’s Primavara is a work based on the painting of the US abstract artist Cy Twombly. Using the full quartet, the work engages a deep intellectual approach, with lively flourishes of melody at the start and dark sections of bass notes. 

Two atmospheric pieces followed, both by Chiyoko Szlavnics: Quick Figure and This is Only Here, both of slow tempo and conjuring dreamlike colours, if in parts as bleak as a moonscape. 

Next and the highlight of the event was Judith Ring’s Swept Through the Floods, played by Chihiro Ono. Evoking climate crisis, flooding disasters and a world in upheaval, it is emotionally engaging and in parts sublime, using the sound of distant electronic textures and clever double tracked violin, with a touch of Brian Eno and Ryuichi Sakamoto. 

McDonnell’s Genesis Candle concluded the event, a gentle nursery-inspired exploration in radical tuning and harmonic experimentation, played by Mira Benjamin. 

A night of deep-dive thinking, boundary-pushing violin expertise and a feast for the senses.