Contents

VOL.134 ISSUE NO

1598

JUNE 2023

28 COVER STORY Ayanna Witter-Johnson

48 Ligeti centenary

4 THE STRAD JUNE 2023

EDITOR’S LETTER 7 CONTRIBUTORS 8 SOUNDPOST 10

FEATURES

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AYANNA WITTER-JOHNSON

The London-based cellist and composer finds inspiration in the works of everything from Sam Cooke to Sofia Gubaidulina, as she tells Toby Deller

YOUNG UKRAINIAN MUSICIANS

Rita Fernandes speaks to displaced players still pursuing their passion away from their homeland, as well as to organisers of programmes designed to help them

A MYSTERY COLLECTOR

Referred to in 19th-century sources as ‘a Russian nobleman’, he amassed a fine collection including three Stradivari cellos. Gennady Filimonov tracks him down

LIGETI CENTENARY

To mark the 100th anniversary of the composer’s birth, Peter Quantrill talks to members of the Diotima and Ligeti quartets about interpreting his complex music

SESSION REPORT

Kerson Leong speaks to Tom Stewart about his latest recording, which combines the Bruch and Britten violin concertos along with the former’s In Memoriam

PLATE ARCHINGS AND TONE – PART TWO

Nigel Harris completes his investigation into how the shape of an instrument’s archings influence the tone, including practical information for the workbench www.thestrad.com