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The Expanded Violin/Anselm McDonnell

LSO Jerwood Composer+ Showcase

Abstract image of violin

A deep dive into the potential of the violin, expanding and enhancing the instrument through microtonality, electronics, and the sound of multiple violins.

Rusted Sugar enters the world of intervals smaller than a semitone, taking traditional tonal chord progressions and setting them into a landscape of quartertones, sweet synthesisers and funk rhythms. Swept Through the Floods and Lamento present powerful emotional journeys. Leo Chadburn’s De La Salle (Violins) occupies a calmer environment: a drifting soundscape, merging four violins into one voice.

Ian Wilson’s Primavera takes creates a texture of agile echoes in a violin quartet and Saariaho’s Nocturne is an intimate tribute to Lutosławski. McDonnell’s new work Genesis Cradle closes the concert, exploring alternative tunings through Just Intonation - intervals that are tuned to fit with the naturally occurring relationships in the harmonic series.

Produced by the London Symphony Orchestra. LSO Jerwood Composer+ is generously supported by Jerwood Foundation. The Expanded Violin is generously supported by Marchus Trust, the Hinrichsen Foundation and the Vaughan Williams Foundation.

LSO St Luke's