TURNING POINTS: SPACE-TIME

The early part of the 20th century was epitomised by drastic reinvention and new ways of thinking. Albert Einstein’s ‘thought experiments’ led to a completely new model of the space-time continuum – the implications of which are still being understood and proved today. Almost in parallel, composers such as Claude Debussy, Arnold Schoenberg, Igor Stravinsky and Henry Cowell took music in radically different directions that blew apart the relationship between harmony and progressive, linear time. Explore both fascinating stories in an evening of live music, experiments and discussion, with Professor Malcolm Longair and music critic Tom Service.

7pm Talk: Einstein's Theories of Relativity
8.30pm Concert: Radical Ideas in Music

Anton Webern Three songs after Poems by Ferdinand Avenarius (1904)
Claude Debussy Prélude No. 7 'La Terrasse des Audiences au Clair de Lune' (1913)
Arnold Schoenberg String Quartet No. 2, Mvt. 4 ‘Entrückung’ (‘Rapture’) (1908)
Alban Berg Four pieces for clarinet and piano (1913)
Igor Stravinsky Three pieces for string quartet (1914/18)
Henry Cowell The Banshee (1925) 
Henry Cowell Aeolian Harp (1923)
Arnold Schoenberg Chamber Symphony (arr. Webern; 1923)

Malcolm Longair CBE, FRS physics presenter
Tom Service music presenter
Elizabeth Atherton soprano
Rolf Hind piano
London Sinfonietta