No one says the Kronos Quartet is happy with the status quo for string quartets. Founded nearly 50 years ago by violinist David Harrington, the group’s flexible virtuosity has been the source of hundreds of new musical commissions. Some of them have become iconic works in the repertoire. Others offer a real-time snapshot of creative collaboration: in this Chronos his program at Zankerhalle, his nine new works, almost all written in the last three years, and recent I picked up the work. Some were more fully formed than others, but it offered a broader palette of sonic ideas and creative visions.
Much of the work on the Zankel program was short, but inspiring. ‘YanYanKliYan Senamido #2’ by Benin-born composer and singer Angélic Kidjo, arranged by Jacob Garchik, intertwines call-and-response melodies and rhythms to kick off the evening effortlessly and frenziedly. I was. Iranian composer Aftab Darvisi’s “Daughters of Sol” is a deeply meditative study of shades and colors, each layer slowly unfolding into another. Armenian-American composer Mary Koyumujian’s ‘I Haven’t the Words’ raises restless questions sparked by her 2020 turmoil including pandemic lockdowns and the murder of George Floyd It was a song that presents
Movement-based multidisciplinary artist Eiko Otake entered Zankel for the world premiere of her Eyes Closed with the majesty of a one-woman marching carrying a large plastic sheet clutch. She distributed them to Harrington, violinist John Sherba, and violinist Hank Dutt. They became her fellow dancers, twisting and flapping the sheets into three-dimensional shapes. Its conceit was admirably imaginative.The sheet was shaped enough to be a dynamic sculpture, and among the creases of a whisper for the occasional lament from Sunny Yang’s cello, the important (The elegy visual effect was no different from the plastic bag scene in the movie American Beauty.)
Some pieces didn’t quite come together. Maz Swift’s “She Is a Story, Herself” contained some exciting moments, such as her flitting through subdued little melodic ideas over a graceful chorale, but the work as a whole is completely It didn’t feel conceptualized to me. Canadian composer Nicole Lize’s “Zonelyhearts,” a long homage to “The Twilight Zone,” uses pop-rock (yes, classic candy from the 1970s) as a percussion form, and the performers’ open mouths. is being wildly tackled between willful eccentricities, such as being amplified to snuggle up. Down to the mic – and existential thoughts on censorship and surveillance.
The quartet performed in a temporarily reconfigured circular seating arrangement at the Zankerhalle. While this setup provided a true sense of intimacy and communal gathering, it also meant that the majority of the audience, myself included, had three composers/guest musicians performing their own work alongside Kronos. It meant it was hard to see. Instead, I only saw their backs. Nearby concert-goers were able to try out an instrument like the haegeum, a two-stringed Korean instrument with a hoarse voice used in Soo Yeon Ryu’s sweetly nostalgic work Yeesuri (Sounds from the Past). I heard him lament that he could not see The Dang Bau of strings, the Vietnamese zither that master Van Anh Vo played in his pandemic-era piece Adrift. The song has the musicians melodically circling around each other, grounded by a walking bass his line brought out by the cello. I also couldn’t appreciate the facial expressions and hand gestures of Peni Kandra Lini, a composer and singer from East Java, Indonesia. Along with his quartet, Garczyk also arranged her wistful piece Madhuswara.
Without fanfare, the Kronos program included music from eight female composers and one non-binary. Many are people of color. (Even in 2023, programs like this are unfortunately a rarity at many venues. Carnegie Hall has promised to give a particular spotlight to female performers and composers this season. ) Harrington proudly remarked from the stage that the work of Kidjo, Kandla Lini and Darubisi Lyuh was created for Kronos’ fascinating and inspiring 50 for the Future commissioned project and is the latest We are making 50 works available online for free in the hands of young and emerging ensembles.
The concert was also the final appearance of the New York City Kronos Quartet for cellist Sunny Yang, who has been part of the ensemble for the past ten years. (Next month, the group will have Paul Wianco in that chair.) For an encore, the group performed Laurie Anderson’s “Flow.” In this context, her short, gentle piece felt like a blessing.
Kronos Quartet
Performed at Zankel Hall in Manhattan on Friday.
