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[MUSIC REVIEW] Kronos Quartet at Tanglewood
8.15.08
TANGLEWOOD
Ozawa Hall
KRONOS QUARTET
Thursday, August 14, 2008
by Seth Rogovoy
(LENOX, Mass., August 15, 2008) -- The Kronos Quartet lived up to its reputation as a state-of-the-art, global-minded contemporary ensemble in its performance at Tanglewood last night, with music spanning downtown New York (John Zorn), Iceland (Sigur Ros), Iraq, Iran, Serbia, India, and elsewhere.
The group also lived up to its reputation as consummate performers and virtuosi, in playing incredibly complex and difficult numbers that relied on non-traditional techniques (the Zorn and the folk-based Iraqi and Serbian numbers, for example), and entertainers (again, the Zorn, and also with attention paid to dress, lighting, and prerecorded sounds).
The first half of the program kicked off with a highly percussive Iraqi tune of unknown origin called "Oh Mother, the Handsome Man Tortures Me," introducing a not-so-subtle theme running through the evening's proceedings, which was music from places of conflict (with the exception, and relief, of the Sigur Ros). The Sigur Ros number aptly caught the nature of the Icelandic post-rock band's ambient swells, by the end achieving the full sweep and effect of a rock band with the four strings of the quartet.
The Zorn, selections from The Dead Man, was the highlight of the first half. The six short movements were composed in signature Zorn form: pastiches of styles measure-to-measure, jumping from atonal noise to cartoon music to traditional classical to sound effects (creaky doors) to blustery laughter. As always with Zorn, part of the challenge of the piece was to stretch the limits of the instruments themselves. In this case, it included the string players whipping their bows through the air on cue, sending resin flying and making whooshing sounds. The effect was equally comic as it was striking.
Aleksandra Vrebalov's "..hold me, neighbor, in the storm..." was a passionate travelogue through a dark night in Serbia, beginning with the martial beat of the bass drum and military-style vocal cadences, with a melody rolling in like armed tanks. The piece went in and out of Gypsy-style dancing, folk music, and astringent sounds. The composer was on hand to be commended by the packed crowd on the cool evening.
The program for the second half of the concert included works by Stephen Prutsman, Ram Narayan, and Steve Reich.
Seth Rogovoy is editor-in-chief and award-winning music critic at Berkshire Living magazine.
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