LOST COWBOY

The irony of bowed instruments is that they are both the agents of the most demanding tradition of "pure music" (the string quartet) and heir to the populat tradition, the rural style, violin music to dance to. The razor-sharp, crisp sound of the fiddle, the ringing out of the open strings, improvisation on the fly is what is on offer from the Ictus String Quartet. The evening features a deft medley where the young Norwegian Øyvind Torvund cross-fertilises the duos of Bartók, Dillon & Berio, along with the quintessentially Americans dances of John Adams for string quartet and pre-recorded rhythms.