Kronos Quartet - Music by Sculthorpe, Sallinen, Glass, Nancarrow, Hendrix (1986)

 

  Kronos Quartet  - Music by Sculthorpe, Sallinen, Glass, Nancarrow, Hendrix (1986)

contemporary | 1cd | eac-flac-cue-log-covers | 210MB

Nonesuch 7559-79111-2

Allmusic:
To say this barrier-breaking string quartet plays modern music is an understatement. All of the five composers showcased on this audacious recording were born in the 20th century. Minimalist Philip Glass is among the best known of the five, whose works cannot possibly be mistaken with anything from the baroque or classical periods. This particular foursome illustrates the grace, beauty, and even power of a string quartet, but goes well beyond. In the words of first violinist and leader David Harrington, "I've always wanted the string quartet to be vital, and energetic, and alive, and cool, and not afraid to kick ass and be absolutely beautiful and ugly if it has to be." The album-ending cover of the Jimi Hendrix classic "Purple Haze" must be heard to be believed.

Tracks
-01. "String Quartet No. 8, Mvt. I Con dolore" - Peter Sculthorpe 2:04
-02. "String Quartet No. 8, Mvt. II Risoluto" - Sculthorpe 3:49
-03. "String Quartet No. 8, Mvt. III Con dolore" - Sculthorpe 3:02
-04. "String Quartet No. 8, Mvt. IV Con precisione" - Sculthorpe 1:49
-05. "String Quartet No. 8, Mvt. V Con dolore" - Sculthorpe 2:07
-06. "String Quartet No. 3: Some Aspects of Peltoniemi Hintrik's Funeral March" - Sallinen 14:05
-07. "Company, Mvt. I" - Philip Glass 2:22
-08. "Company, Mvt. II" - Glass 1:36
-09. "Company, Mvt. III" - Glass 1:46
-10. "Company, Mvt. IV" - Glass 2:14
-11. "String Quartet, Mvt. I Allegro molto" - Conlon Nancarrow 2:18
-12. "String Quartet, Mvt. II Andante moderato" - Nancarrow 3:31
-13. "String Quartet, Mvt. III Prestissimo" - Nancarrow 5:17
-14. "Purple Haze" - Jimi Hendrix, arr. Steve Riffkin 2:52

 sample & buy: Kronos Quartet 

Kronos Quartet - Kronos Quartet Performs Philip Glass (1995)

Kronos Quartet - Kronos Quartet Performs Philip Glass (1995)

contemporary | 1cd | eac-flac-cue-log-cover | 410MB

Nonesuch

String Quartet no.5
1. "I" - 1:11
2.. "II" - 3:00
3. "III" - 5:28
4. "IV" - 4:38
5. "V" - 7:36
String Quartet no.4 "Buczak"
6. "I" - 7:54
7. "II" - 6:18
8. "III" - 8:38
String Quartet no.2 "Company"
9. "I" - 2:09
10. "II" - 1:34
11. "III" - 1:28
12. "IV" - 2:04
String Quartet no.53 "Mishima"
13. "1957-Award Montage" - 3:27
14. "November 25-Ichigaya" - 1:19
15. "1934-Grandmother and Kimitake" - 2:41
16. "1962-Body Building" - 1:40
17. "Blood Oath" - 3:11
18. "Mishima/Closing" - 2:56

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sample & buy: Kronos Quartet performs Philip Glass

Kronos Quartet (Terry Riley) - Requiem for Adam (2000) (eac-log-cover)

Kronos Quartet (Terry Riley) - Requiem for Adam (2000)

contemporary | 1cd | eac-flac-cue-log-cover | 210MB

Nonesuch

allmusic:
This may be the single most powerful piece of music that the Kronos Quartet has ever recorded, and perhaps that Terry Riley has ever written. This is because Requiem for Adam is so personal, so direct, and experiential. Requiem for Adam was written after the death of Kronos violinist David Harrignton's son. He died, in 1995, at the age of 16, from an aneurysm in his coronary artery. Riley, who is very close to the Harringtons and has a son the same age, has delved deep into the experience of death and resurrection, or, at the very least, transmutation. Requiem for Adam is written in three parts, or movements. The first, "Ascending the Heaven Ladder," is based on a four-note pattern that re-harmonizes itself as it moves up the scale. There are many variations and series based on each of these notes and their changing harmonics, and finally a 5/4 dance as it moves to the highest point on the strings. The drone-like effect is stunning when the listener realizes that the drone is changing shape too, ascending the scale, moving ever upward and taking part in the transmutation of harmony. There are no blustery passages of 32nd notes only gorgeous arco phrases shimmering away as the harmonics transform the piece of music form an ascent to a near pastoral acceptance of the highest realization linguistically. The second movement, "Coretejo Funebre en el Monte Diablo," is full of electronic music, horns, bells, and percussion that slam around in the background. This is a sampled soundtrack for the quartet, but it is integral in moving the focus of movement panoramically, expanding it across vistas instead of making it a vertical relationship between soul and the divine. It is cacophonous and almost celebratory. Riley refers to it as funeral music that might be heard in New Orleans, and he's almost right. Still there are classical canonical funereal figures here, like a Deus Irae that is somehow kinked up, offbeat, sideways, but nonetheless very present. In title movement, number three, plucked strings move against sliding harmonics and two long pulse notes stretch into almost impossible duration and intensity. These give way to funky dance figures, almost bluesy as a coda that moves toward an ever more frenzied articulation of theme and variation of the coda. There are graceful lines tacked on, almost as cadenzas for the strings to come back to themselves and their dovetailing roles, but they just take off again in search of that 7/8 polyrhythmic cadence again which gives way to a high register harmonics and finally a statement of the two-note pulse found at the beginning of the piece. It's the most complex quartet Riley has yet composed, and easily his most satisfying. The disc closes with "The Philosopher's Hand," a solo piano piece played by Riley. Riley was asked by Harrington to improvise a piece while thinking of Pandit Pran Nath, Riley's musical and spiritual teacher who passed in 1996. Riley claims that Pran Nath had come to Adam's funeral and held David Harrington's hand, which, Harrington remarked, was the softest hand he'd ever felt. The piece reflects all of these: the softness, the deep regret of Adam and Pran Nath's passing, and most of all of Riley's remembering, which is filtered through the anguish and beauty of the human heart. It's more than a whispering close to an already astonishing recording: it's the end of the world, and the beginning of the next, or at least the evidence that music can almost deliver this much.

Tracks
-1. "Ascending the Heaven Ladder" (played by Kronos Quartet) 13:24
-2. "Cortejo Fúnebre en el Monte Diablo" (played by Kronos Quartet) 7:05
-3. "Requiem for Adam" (played by Kronos Quartet) 21:18
-4. "The Philosopher's Hand" (solo piano by Terry Riley) 5:57

Personnel
* David Harrington - violin
* John Sherba - violin
* Hank Dutt - viola
* Jennifer Culp - cello
* Terry Riley - piano

sample & buy: Terry Riley: Requiem for Adam / The Philosopher's Hand

Kronos Quartet, Bob Ostertag - All The Rage (1993)

Kronos Quartet, Bob Ostertag - All The Rage (1993)

avantgarde, contemporary | 1cd | eac-flac-cue-log-cover | 110MB

Nonesuch

wikipedia:
Bob Ostertag: All the Rage is an experimental album by the Kronos Quartet and Eric Gupton (reading). It is a composition by Bob Ostertag (with libretto by Sara Miles), whose loops and samples are alternated with music by the quartet. Ostertag composed the piece as a response to California governor Pete Wilson veto of pro-gay legislation in 1991. Proceeds went to AIDS research.
Rob Theakston, writing for allmusic, said the interplay between Kronos and Ostertag is full of tension of potent magnitude, and called it "an eloquent tone poem that fans of both artists will enjoy."

Track
-1. "All The Rage" (Bob Ostertag (music), Sara Miles (libretto)) 16:15

Musicians
* David Harrington - violin
* John Sherba - violin
* Hank Dutt - viola
* Joan Jeanrenaud - cello
* Eric Gupton - reading

sample & buy: Bob Ostertag: All the Rage

A Piazzolla & Kronos Q - Concierto para Bandoneon_Tres Tangos & Five Tango Sensations (eac-log-cover)

A Piazzolla & Kronos Q  - Concierto para Bandoneon_Tres Tangos &  Five Tango Sensations (1988)

classical, latin, contemporary | 1cd | eac-flac-cue-log-cover | 320MB

Landy Star | rar +5% recovery

AMG:
Five Tango Sensations
The undisputed lord of nuevo tango, Astor Piazzolla conceived of five tangos, written for himself on bandoneon, and the Kronos Quartet on strings. The neo-classical style of Kronos fits surprisingly well on Piazzolla's new style of tango and provides a wonderful backing for the maestro at work. Though there are only five songs on the album, the title fits well, Five Tango Sensations. Each of the tangos presented is a sensation and conveys the full emotion or scene given in the titles: "Asleep," "Loving," "Anxiety," "Despertar" (waking up), and "Fear." Piazzolla plays his heart out on his trusty bandoneon, and the Kronos players accompany to perfection. If it's the tango that the listener wants, Piazzolla is the man to listen to.
Concierto para Bandoneon_Tres Tangos
This recording with a classical orchestra is Piazzolla's apotheosis. For years he has been turning a dance form into an art music. Here he essentially crosses into the regional conservatory style called national music.

Tracks:
01. Asleep
02. Loving
03. Anxiety
04. Despertar
05. Fear
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06. Allegro Marcat
07. Moderato
08. Presto
09. Allegro Tranquillo
10. Moderato Misitco
11. Allegretto Molto Marcato

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