Ali Smith Quartet Inspires New Music at Spitalfields Festival

The New European Ensemble presented a concert at London's Spitalfields Festival featuring four new musical compositions inspired by Ali Smith's "Seasonal Quartet" novels. This project, which explores interconnectedness through intersecting paths and echoing stories, commissioned works from composers Kate Moore (Australia), Alice Yeung (Hong Kong), Seung-Won Oh (South Korea), and Sara Zamboni (Italy). The concert aimed to reverse the traditional process of writing words about music, instead offering music inspired by literature. The program also included pieces by Peter Maxwell Davies, Anna Thorvaldsdottir, and Kinan Azmeh, guiding the audience through a narrative cycle from autumn to summer. The New European Ensemble is scheduled to perform this program again at the Edinburgh Book Festival next month. The concert highlighted the interplay between literature and music, with the new commissions creating "ravishing harmonies and interplay." This innovative approach builds upon the thematic web of Smith's quartet, extending it into the realm of musical interpretation and re-creation.