By: David de Young
 Kronos. Photo by Jay Blakesburg |
Members (left to right in photo) David Harrington, violin Official website: http://www.kronosquartet.org |
But that's all stuff you can read in the program or on their website. Let me tell you about the show. Complimentary tickets came to me through a friend (since I've been writing reviews, comps seem to fly at me like mosquitoes on a hot Minnesota night. Not that I mind). We arrived in the auditorium of the Walker shortly before the 8 p.m. to what appeared to be nearly full house. The audience was a fascinating mix of age and lifestyle, everyone from people you might expect to see at the opera or the Minnesota Orchestra, or across the hall at the Guthrie Theatre mixed in with nose ring-wearing punks and hipsters from the art scene crowd. And then of course there was me who, like Kronos, falls somewhere in between Yo Yo Ma, Yo Mamma and Yo! MTV Raps.
Kronos emerged from the shadows at the side of the stage to take their places and I must make a fashion remark here. This is no black tux and bow tie outfit. Violinist David Harrington wore what appeared to be a leatherette sport coat and lace-less boots that I was coveting for most of the night. Under his jacket he wore some kind of wild orange patchwork shirt. Viola player Hank Dutt had a green suit with a very mod cut. Jennifer Culp's full-length silk skirt ensemble drew a comment from the women behind me, "I like her outfit." Make no mistake: whatever the genre, this is one cool-ass looking four-piece.
Kronos opened up with a piece called Aaj Ki Raat (Tonight Is The Night) by Rahul Dev Burman and arranged by Osvaldo Golijov which I will probably inaccurately describe as sounding wonderfully like gypsy music gone mad (the program indicates this piece marries "jazz, fusion and Indian classical music.")
Sunrise of the Planetary Dream Collector by Terry Riley, a personal friend of the group and ongoing contributing composer, was a highlight of the first set. This piece was practically ambient and literally carried you away. Something else of note is that the stage lighting actually changed in harmony with the music. When's the last time that happened at a classical music concert? Before I knew it the first set of nearly an hour in length had gone by.
"Svefn-g-englar" (Dream of Angels) by Iceland's critically-acclaimed Sigur Ros (also apparently fans of Kronos Quartet) opened the second set. This particular arrangement was by 33 year old Stephen Prustman and was originally commissioned for the Kronos Quartet by the Reykjavik Arts Festival. During this piece, the lighting crew created cool shadow-play effects on the Walker auditorium wall. An image of Harrington's violin loomed 10 feet tall on the stage right wall. A piece by Carlos Paredes (Cancao Verdes Anos) sounded like summertime. And the set proper ended with Steve Reich's accurately titled Triple Quartet which featured Kronos playing with pre-recordings of themselves and sounding like a 12 piece. I remember thinking, damn, that must be hard to do. And when the song finished, an audience member was audibly heard to say "Wow," before the applause broke out.
Massive applause brought on two encores.
If you're not sure you like classical music and are looking for a sure and safe way to ease yourself into it, Kronos Quartet is a great place to start. Or if you already love classical music and just want to spice up your concert-going schedule. I'd also hazard to guess that taking a date to a Kronos concert would be a way to wow him or her with both your refinement and hipness at the same time. You will find no lack of excitement at these energetic, passionate, and intelligent performances. Kronos performs over 100 concerts a year all over the world. They record exclusively for the classical label Nonesuch Records, and their most recent release is Nuevo, released in 2002. If you want to be naughty, I slyly hint you might be able to grab a copy of their Jimi Hendrix cover of "Purple Haze" off a file sharing program like IMesh or Kazaa to get small taste of a group that in reality far exceeds the potential of their concept.
Location Info:
Walker Art Center
Artist Info: Kronos Quartet
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