Wigmore Hall Presents Thomas Larcher Composer Focus

On Saturday, November 12, composer Thomas Larcher is the subject of a day-long composer portrait held at London’s Wigmore Hall. The event, celebrating Larcher’s chamber and solo music, is comprised of three concerts and an open conversation on Larcher’s music between the composer and British music broadcaster and writer Rob Cowan. Larcher, himself an accomplished pianist, performs on two of the concerts, which also feature performances by Quatuor Diotima, the Belcea Quartet, soprano Christina Landshamer, tenor Mark Padmore, violinist Pekka Kuusisto, cellist Thomas Demenga, and pianist Mihaela Ursuleasa. 

With all of his recorded output available on the ECM New Series, Larcher has established himself as a unique and extraordinary force in the music of today. Larcher’s music combines novelty in sound with a careful precision in form. IXXU and Madhares, Larcher's acclaimed works for string quartet, receive their UK premieres with Quatuor Diotima and the day closes with the Belcea Quartet and Mihaela Ursuleasa performing the world premiere of Larcher’s Piano Quintet, commissioned by Wigmore Hall for the event. Fiona Maddocks, classical critic for The Observer (UK), writes: 

Thomas Larcher is at once experimental and responsive to tradition... his String Quartet No 3 (Madhares), minutely detailed in its multiplying patterns and crazily interweaving motifs, shows him at his best. Inspired by the White Mountains of western Crete, it glistens with strange effects and bursts of melody. Acoustic novelties include players placing coins on strings to create an ethereal tremolando.

For more on the program, visit www.wigmore-hall.org.uk.

For more on Thomas Larcher, visit his Composer Profile.

IXXU (1998/2004)
for string quartet
15’

Madhares (2006, rev. 2007)
for string quartet
18’