Notes and Editorial Reviews
There is no other string quartet quite like the Kronos. Often imitated, never equaled, the San Francisco-based foursome pursues its quest for new musical horizons with inextinguishable fire and infallible flair. Their latest effort brings new pieces or skillful arrangements of songs from all over the world, mostly from countries or regions that are cross-sections between different cultures and ways of life: Yugoslavia, Portugal, India, Mexico, Rumania, Hungary, California, Argentina, Iran, and Lebanon. This is crossover, yes, but with a difference: it never indulges in cheap mediocrity, but rather opens the listener's ears to unexpected, exotic, fascinating sound worlds. Despite the change of cellist
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(Jennifer Culp has replaced Joan Jeanrenaud), the quartet plays with its usual vitality, homogeneity and characterful tone, with perhaps a hint more of velvet-like sheen in the sound. Alternating fast-driven pieces with moody atmospherics, Kronos conveys the strong nostalgia of the Portuguese fado (Carlos Paredes' Canção Verdes Anos and Romance No. 1) or the Argentinean tango (Annibal Troilo's Responso), as well as the feverish excitement of gypsy music (Pannonia Boundless by the Yugoslavian Aleksandra Vrebalov, and Turceasca performed together with the Rumanian gypsy band Taraf de Haïdouks). There is also a spiritual side to this exploration. While the Sufi song Ecstasy by the Lebanese composer and nay virtuoso Ali Jihad Racy seems to plead for metaphysical communion with the world, both the old standard Gloomy Sunday--more moving than ever in the quasi-schubertian arrangement by Osvaldo Golijov--and Terry Riley's rather noisy Cortejo Fúnebre en el Monte Diablo express a deep sentiment of loss: that of first violin David Harrington's son, Adam. As a sort of final wink, as much as a summary of this musical journey, here comes the famous Misirlou Twist, made popular by the "King of Surf Guitar" Dick Dale, and subsequently by film director Quentin Tarantino in his movie Pulp Fiction (remember the explosive song during the opening title credits?). Composed by one Nicholas Roubanis in the 1930s, it mixes Middle-Eastern influences and klezmer-like melodic turns with an inescapable feeling of West Coast nonchalance and dolce vita. Once again, the Kronos Quartet's got a hit with this perfectly produced and recorded CD.
--Luca Sabbatini, ClassicsToday.com Read less
Works on This Recording
1.
Pannonia Boundless by Aleksandra Vrebalov
Performer:
David Harrington (Violin),
John Sherba (Violin),
Hank Dutt (Viola),
Jennifer Culp (Cello)
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Kronos Quartet
Period: 20th Century
Date of Recording: 1999
Venue: Skywalker Sound, Nicasio, California
Length: 6 Minutes 8 Secs.
2.
La muerte chiquita by Enrique Rangel
Performer:
David Harrington (Violin),
Jennifer Culp (Cello),
Hank Dutt (Viola),
John Sherba (Violin)
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Kronos Quartet
Period: 20th Century
Written: by 1999; Mexico
Date of Recording: 1999
Venue: Skywalker Sound, Nicasio, California
Length: 4 Minutes 3 Secs.
Notes: Arranged Osvaldo Golijov
3.
Turceasca by Sapo Perapaskero
Performer:
John Sherba (Violin),
Jennifer Culp (Cello),
David Harrington (Violin),
Anghel "Caliu" Gheorghe (Violin),
Ionel "Ionita" Manole (Accordion),
Constantin "Costica" Lautaru (Violin),
Viorel Vlad (Double Bass),
Marin "Marius" Manole (Accordion),
Hank Dutt (Viola)
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Kronos Quartet,
Taraf de Haïdouks
Period: 20th Century
Written: Romania
Date of Recording: 05/1999
Venue: Saarbrücken, Germany
Length: 7 Minutes 28 Secs.
Notes: Arranged: Osvaldo Golijov
4.
Cortejo fúnebre en el Monte Diablo by Terry Riley
Performer:
Terry Riley (Electronics),
Jennifer Culp (Cello),
David Harrington (Violin),
Hank Dutt (Viola),
John Sherba (Violin)
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Kronos Quartet
Period: 20th Century
Date of Recording: 1999
Venue: Skywalker Sound, Nicasio, California
Length: 7 Minutes 6 Secs.
Notes: This selection includes a backing track made by Terry Riley from playback samples created on an Ensoniq TS12.
5.
Responso by Anibal Troilo
Performer:
Jennifer Culp (Cello),
Hank Dutt (Viola),
John Sherba (Violin),
David Harrington (Violin)
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Kronos Quartet
Period: 20th Century
Written: by 1963; Argentina
Date of Recording: 1999
Venue: Skywalker Sound, Nicasio, California
Length: 4 Minutes 39 Secs.
Notes: Arranged: Osvaldo Golijov
6.
Gallop of a Thousand Horses by Kayhan Kalhor
Performer:
Jennifer Culp (Cello),
Hank Dutt (Viola),
John Sherba (Violin),
Kayhan Kalhor (Kamancha),
David Harrington (Violin),
Ziya Tabassian (Tombak)
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Kronos Quartet
Period: 20th Century
Date of Recording: 1999
Venue: Skywalker Sound, Nicasio, California
Length: 4 Minutes 41 Secs.
7.
Ecstasy by Ali Jihad Racy
Performer:
Hank Dutt (Viola),
Ali Jihad Racy (Ney),
Souhail Kaspar (Tar),
Jennifer Culp (Cello),
John Sherba (Violin),
David Harrington (Violin)
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Kronos Quartet
Period: 20th Century
Date of Recording: 1999
Venue: Skywalker Sound, Nicasio, California
Length: 8 Minutes 33 Secs.
8.
Gloomy Sunday by Rezsö Seress
Performer:
David Harrington (Violin),
John Sherba (Violin),
Hank Dutt (Viola),
Jennifer Culp (Cello)
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Kronos Quartet
Period: 20th Century
Written: Hungary
Date of Recording: 1999
Venue: Skywalker Sound, Nicasio, California
Length: 3 Minutes 25 Secs.
Notes: Arranged: Osvaldo Golijov
9.
Misirlou Twist by Nicholas Roubanis
Performer:
Jennifer Culp (Cello),
David Harrington (Violin),
John Sherba (Violin),
Hank Dutt (Viola),
Martyn Jones (Drums)
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Kronos Quartet
Period: 20th Century
Date of Recording: 1999
Venue: Skywalker Sound, Nicasio, California
Length: 4 Minutes 20 Secs.
Notes: Arranged: Osvaldo Golijov
10.
Aaj ki raat by R.D. Burman
Performer:
David Harrington (Violin),
John Sherba (Violin),
Hank Dutt (Viola),
Jennifer Culp (Cello),
Zakir Hussain (Tabla)
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Kronos Quartet
Period: 20th Century
Written: India
Date of Recording: 1999
Venue: Skywalker Sound, Nicasio, California
Length: 4 Minutes 50 Secs.
Notes: Arranged Osvaldo Golijov
11.
Cancao verdes anos by Carlos Paredes
Performer:
David Harrington (Violin),
Jennifer Culp (Cello),
John Sherba (Violin),
Hank Dutt (Viola)
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Kronos Quartet
Period: 20th Century
Written: by 1963
Date of Recording: 1999
Venue: Skywalker Sound, Nicasio, California
Length: 3 Minutes 3 Secs.
Notes: Arranged: Osvaldo Golijov
12.
Romance no 1 by Carlos Paredes
Performer:
Jennifer Culp (Cello),
Hank Dutt (Viola),
John Sherba (Violin),
David Harrington (Violin)
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Kronos Quartet
Period: 20th Century
Date of Recording: 1999
Venue: Skywalker Sound, Nicasio, California
Length: 4 Minutes 4 Secs.
Notes: Arranged: Osvaldo Golijov
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