The Ligeti Quartet
Kings Place, London 

THE LIGETI QUARTET is a British string quartet formed in 2010, named after the Hungarian composer Gyorgy Ligeti. Comprising Freya Goldmark and Patrick Dawkins on violin, Richard Jones on viola and Val Welbanks on cello, their mission has been to perform ground breaking compositions and to collaborate with experimental artists. 

For this concert the quartet chose a brave range of works by two pioneering American composers Terry Riley and Pauline Oliveros, both involved in minimalism and new electronic composition. 

First up was Riley’s work Poppy Nogood and the Phantom Band, written in 1969, and here arranged by Richard Jones in 2025. The piece is the B-side of Riley’s 1969 album A Rainbow in Curved Air. Starting off in a sombre mood, the four instruments worked on a drone based, meditative focus before an electronic pulse backing joined in, triggered by Jones and accented by the violins. As the piece developed the mood lightened, revealing a strong melodic drive, with featured solos, and the electronics working towards a power based church organ held chord, ending in a unison dance-like finale. A fitting tribute to Riley, this year marking the composer’s 90th birthday. 

As Richard Jones explained before the concert, the piece is their way of marking the occasion. “We first performed music by him in 2016 when Kronos Quartet coached us for a concert at Carnagie Hall. He seems to be a composer who inspires people from all parts of the musical world — pop, electronic, jazz, and classical.” 

Next up was Oliveros’s work 70 Chords for Terry, written in 2005. Her approach to listening and improvisation revealed radical new avenues of communal music-making. The piece is a five-minute work, with no formal written score given by the composer, but rather instructions given to inspire a sense of meditation, and then improvisation from the four players. Pizzicato from the violins developed into harmonic drone lines with a pronounced melodic intent to the fore. 

In conclusion came Riley’s seminal 1983 work Cadenza on The Night Plain. Set over 11 movements it is one of Riley’s earliest pieces written for quartet. The sense of reflective Reagan-era political drama shone through the playing, with playful hoedown dance sections contrasting with sections that conveyed spiritual yearning, and all delivered with impeccably precise timing. It yielded both a deep sense of journey, and mesmerising ambition and courage from all four players.  

The quartet utilised the immersive sound system to enhance detail and create a powerful mix. The system they use — soundscape D&B — is an alternative to the traditional left and right stereo system, using up to 28 loudspeakers spread around the hall, enabling a plethora of creative possibilities for artists. 

Other events in this venue — Hall 2 — that are set to use the technology include the folk music Whale Song Sound Bath (March 15) and Soumik Datta’s political spoken word work Borderlands (March 16). Other highlights to be recommended are composer and artist Alice Boyd’s The Sounds of Kings Cross (April 5) and the folk duo The Rheingans Sisters (May 10). Bold programming, and all highly recommended.

For tickets and details of upcoming concerts see: kingsplace.co.uk