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Jonathan Harvey - String Quartet No 4 - Arditti Quartet

Saturday 21 November

St Paul's Hall 8.15pm,
Full price £18; Concessions £16

Hilda Paredes In Memoriam Thomas Kakushka
James Clarke String Quartet No 2 (World Premiere) HCMF Commission
James Dillon String Quartet No 5 (World Premiere)
Jonathan Harvey String Quartet No 4

Irvine Arditti violin
Ashot Sarkissjan violin
Ralf Ehlers viola
Lucas Fels cello

IRCAM technical team
Jérémie Henrot sound engineer
Arshia Cont computer production
Gilbert Nouno computer music designer  

The world renowned Arditti Quartet present a captivating programme including world premieres of James Clarke's String Quartet No 2, written for and dedicated to the Arditti Quartet, James Dillon's String Quartet No 5, written for and premiered here at the quartet's 35th anniversary, and Hilda Paredes' tribute to the late Thomas Kakushka of the Alban Berg Quartet. A performance of hcmf Composer in Residence Jonathan Harvey's spiritual String Quartet No 4 completes this exceptional programme.

Produced by hcmf// String Quartet No 2 is co-commissioned by hcmf and MaerzMusik Berliner Festspiele; String Quartet No 4 is commissioned by BBC Symphony Scottish Orchestra, Ircam-Centre Pompidou and Radio France; supported by British Council

Please note: tickets for this performance have now sold out

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• yorkshire oldget

  at 15:48 on Monday 23 November 2009, wrote

  I went to the hcmf 8.15pm concert at St Paul’s on Sat 22 Nov 2009, (on a full price ticket) and was shocked by the behaviour of one of the performers (sound techician). Because there were electronics in the second half, there was a mixing desk in the middle of the audience seating (this is normal). When the audience went into the hall at the beginning of the concert, there were two sound technicians seated at the mixing desk. I got a seat just behind the mixing desk a few seats along, not expecting to have to want to be well away from the mixing desk. The first half of the concert contained 3 pieces which didn’t seem to require any electronics, or certainly no input from the sound technician in question. He sat there slouched in his seat for the whole of the first half. Throughout the first half of the concert, this sound technician fidgeted continuously: picking at his face, nose, teeth, ears, & hair. He didn’t have to be in the concert hall for the first half (so e.g. if he was of a nervous disposition, he could have stayed outside). Because this sound technician was on the periphery of vision, every movement was noticeable (and disturbing). If an orchestral performer isn’t needed for a movement, they tend to sit still & quietly, or increasingly nowadays, come on stage between movements as appropriate. Sadly, there seems to be a prevailing feeling of not criticising people (& certainly not performers/artistes for fear of offending a sensitive disposition), and also a sense of embarrassment when this matter was mentioned to people in neighbouring seats (who seemed to be in knowledgeable positions in respect of the concert). One expressed a similar view point and another being somewhat embarrassed at the suggestion of criticism/complaining (such a British failing). One of the people also expressed dissatisfaction with the fidgeting sound technician. I suppose I could have moved seats, but the concert was sold out, and you can’t really move in the middle of a concert To add injury to insult, at the end of the piece where the sound technician actually did do something, he rose to take applause. So, the audience reinforces this type of anti-social behaviour! For better of worse, this type of behaviour is unprofessional, disturbing to paying audience members, inconsiderate and IMHO, unacceptable. Having said all that, the quartet were fantastic, and the programme interesting: It was just the annoying tw*t at the sound desk that ruined the concert. Perhaps I am getting old and grumpy, and there will be some who are horrified at the thought of the negativity/complaining herein (what a British reaction!), and perhaps I should be more tolerant. However, in the same way that there are notices in the gents toilet asking that the toilet not be flushed during the performance (as it’s right underneath the audience seating and might disturb the performance), and latecomers are not allowed into a concert until a convenient break, the fidgeting sound technician largely spoilt my enjoyment of the performance, and behaved unprofessionally. I was supposed to be going again the following day, but I voted with my feet. I won’t be going again. I won’t be supporting hcmf in future either, so that’s one lot of patron’s contibution they’ve lost (but I don’t suppose they’ll worry about that too much). I suppose I’ve been going & supporting hcmf for around 10 years or more.