Kronos Quartet

So, this weekend Edige was kind enough to go with me to see the Kronos Quartet here on campus. It's no secret I love cellos, and even violas, to a lesser degree. In general, I'm less enamored of string quartets as a whole, though -- or at least, the strictly classical variety, anyway. The two major exceptions now being Kronos and Apocalyptica. (Have I mentioned yet how much I love Apoc? Love, love, love them. Heavy metal cellos? Oh, yes, please.)

I was able to get free tickets for this concert, and having heard Kronos before, I knew it wasn't going to be a run-of-the-mill classical concert, so I was pretty excited. We sat in the group section that my office had bought out, so I ended up introducing Edige to my supervisor, who sat two rows behind us, and pointed out my überbosslady, as well, which led to amusing commentary on his part.

In any case. The show was divided into two sections:

J. G. Thirlwell / Nomatophobis *
John Zorn / Selections from The Dead Man *
  Nocturne
  Fantasy
  Prelude
  Etude
  Manifesto
  Meditation (The Blue of Noon)
Ram Narayan (arr. Kronos, transc. Ljova) / Alap from Raga Mishra Bhairavi +
Aleksandra Vrebalov / …hold me, neighbor, in this storm… *

(Intermission)

Terry Riley / Transylvanian Horn Courtship * World premiere
  I. The Weaver and the Waterwheel…or the Good W’s that We Know
  II. Arangojuice
  III. Heavy Breathing in Dangerous Snowfields
  IV. Drunken Lovesong
  V. Rajastani Loops for K.M. Bhatt...That’s Mr. Kool Man Krishna Mohan Pandit
  VI. Moonlight Shadows Dyno Walk
  VII. A Tender Moment in the Maze
  VIII. Ram Chander Maharaj…a Dancing Toot Sultan in Beggar’s Clothes
  IX. Keep Hands up Close to the Face before the Knockout Punch

The first half was a selection of pieces that really showcased their versatility and were, quite honest, amazing. After the first piece -- lovely and haunting and a bit jarring in places; the sort of music Silent Hill wishes it could have -- Edige turned to me and said, "And that's why I love 20th century composers." I'll have to find more of that at some point. The rest of the offerings in the first half were also dynamite, in turns funny and heartbreaking, and a bit nervewracking. By the intermission, I was contemplating buying tickets for the following night's performance, since they'd already announced they would perform a different mix for the second night.

The second half was comprised of the premiere of Terry Riley's "Transylvanian Horn Courtship." While I admire the ingenuity of the piece, and was fascinated by the specialty instruments used to play it, it was much less dynamic (IMO) than any of the selections in the first half. The sound quality was muddied a bit by the string/horn hybrid instruments, rather than actually sounding like the horns they were meant to be. However, the part I found most interesting were the sections in which they played along with recordings of themselves; i.e., they had taped recordings of them playing a rhythm section with their instruments, and then played live over, above and through that recording. The timing was impeccable, and the illusion was skillful, I have to say.

For the "Transylvanian Horn Courtship" it's as if "the group will actually transform itself right in front of the audience; the kind of thing I've always wanted to do and now we get to do it," says David Harrington.

"There are new instruments that are being built right now for Transylvanian Horn Courtship. These instruments are going to look different from other bowed, stringed instruments because they're related to what's called the trumpet violins or Stroh instruments, in that they have a brass bell that comes out from the bridge. It was an early way to make an almost electrified instrument but was totally acoustic so that it ends up sounding quite a bit like a trumpet," Harrington adds. "Cello becomes tuba, viola akin to trombone."

All in all, an excellent concert, and one that I'm grateful to have seen. Even if you're not a big fan of modern compositions, their live show is surprisingly engaging, and definitely magnifies the enjoyment factor. Given the chance, I'd see them again, and I'm looking forward to hunting down more of their music.