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This year marks the fortieth anniversary of the founding of the Arditti Quartet. Hundreds of string quartets and other chamber works have been written for the ensemble over the past four decades, many leaving a permanent mark on the 20th and 21st century repertoire, giving these musicians a firm place in musical history. Tom Service meets the founder and first violinist Irvine Arditti to discuss the group鈥檚 work, which has included world premieres of pieces by composers from Ades to Xenakis.

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Over the last 5 years Paul Archbold and his colleagues at the Institute of Musical Research at the School of Advanced Study have recorded a number of films documenting the Arditti Quartet in rehearsal and their relationship with several composers. You can see the films :

Photo: 漏Astrid Karger

The LaSalle Quartet was the premiere exponent of 鈥渢he new music鈥� for string quartet. Founded in 1946, at the Julliard School in New York, it became famous for its performances of works by the Second Viennese School and its commissioning of many new pieces by contemporary post-war composers. As a result the quartets by Lutoslawski, Ligeti and Nono have since entered the standard repertoire. The LaSalles were also incisive interpreters of the classical quartet repertoire and had an impressive record of teaching other quartets including the Alban Berg, Brahms, Artis and Vogler . Its founder and first violinist Walter Levin, is himself a highly influential teacher whose students included the conductor James Levine and the violinist Christian Tetzlaff. Tom talks to Robert Spruytenburg, the author of a new book on the LaSalle Quartet which is based on interviews with Walter Levin, conducted over a five year period.

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Photo: 漏KLT Photos, Cincinnati

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In 1745 the German composer Christoph Willibald Gluck accepted an invitation to become house composer at London's King's Theatre. However, fate wasn鈥檛 on his side as the Jacobite Rebellion caused much panic in London and for most of the year the King's Theatre was closed. The two operas that Gluck wrote for London - La caduta de'giganti and Artamene - were eventually performed in 1746 and borrowed much from his earlier works, a method that was to re-occur throughout his career.听 Tom visits the site of the King鈥檚 Theatre (which is now occupied by Her Majesty鈥檚 Theatre in London鈥檚 Haymarket) to find out more about Gluck鈥檚 time in London from the musicologist Patricia Howard. There鈥檚 also an exclusive performance of an aria from Artamene by the counter-tenor Tim Morgan and harpsichordist Steven Devine. (Most certainly the first time it鈥檚 ever been recorded!)

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Miklos Perenyi is recognized as one of the great cellists of his generation.听 Born in Budapest in 1948, he began cello lessons at the age of five, gave his first concert at the age of nine and by 1963 had become a prize-winner at the International Pablo Casals Cello Competition in Budapest. Prior to Perenyi performing with his good friend Andras Schiff in London on Tuesday, Tom talks to the cellist about his career and his personal and professional relationships with some of the most influential 20th century composers including Ligeti, Kurtag and Kodaly.

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Photo: 漏 Andrea Felvegi

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