Cello Quartet: William Butt, Rosalie Curlett, Martin Johnson & Ailbhe McDonagh

Cello Quartet: William Butt, Rosalie Curlett, Martin Johnson & Ailbhe McDonagh

Cello Quartet: William Butt, Rosalie Curlett, Martin Johnson & Ailbhe McDonagh
Four masterful cellists perform together in an exciting new Music Network collaboration.

With its sonorous tone, swan-like elegance and an expressive range that gives the human voice a run for its money, no other instrument manages to play on our heart strings quite like the cello.

Performing together for the very first time and guided by their collective musical influences, William Butt, Rosalie Curlett, Martin Johnson and Ailbhe McDonagh have crafted an inspirational and varied programme which celebrates the beauty of their instrument.

Audiences can look forward to marvellous arrangements of works by Bach, Beethoven and Bartók, Mozart's beautiful Ave verum corpus, a fiery exchange between two cellos in Barrière’s popular Sonata, as well as Debussy’s uber-romantic Clair de lune and Gershwin’s jazz-infused favourite "Summertime". Contemporary music for this unusual combination is well catered for in Ailbhe McDonagh’s own Cellango and in An Autumn Night’s Dream, a new Music Network commission by Conor Linehan.

Along with this beautiful programme of music, viewers will hear from the musicians in interviews hosted by Music Network's CEO Sharon Rollston, and composer Conor Linehan will introduce his new work in a short Composer Insight Session during the broadcast.

Each broadcast will be available to watch for 36 hours after the broadcast time and date shown.

Cello Quartet Trailer

Claude Debussy (1862-1918) Arr. David Johnstone
Clair de lune

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) Arr. David JohnstoneAve verum corpus KV 618

J.S. Bach (1685-1750) Arr. Claudio Jaffe and Johanne Perron
Chaconne from Partita No. 2 in D minor (BWV 1004)

Ludwig van Beethoven
(1770-1827) Arr. Ailbhe McDonagh
Adagio cantabile (2nd movement) from Sonata No. 8, Op. 13 “Pathétique”

Conor Linehan
An Autumn Night's Dream
New Music Network Commission

Ailbhe McDonagh

Cellango

Jean-Baptiste Barrière (1707-1747)
Sonata No. 10 in G major

George Gershwin (1898-1937) Arr. Lee Armstrong
"Summertime" from Porgy and Bess

Béla Bartók
(1881-1945) Arr. Lee Armstrong
Romanian Folk Dances (Sz68)

Performed by William Butt, Rosalie Curlett, Martin Johnson & Ailbhe McDonagh