Kronos Quartet Concert Review

Kronos Quartet April 6, 2011; Segerstrom Concert Hall

Aheym – Bryce Dessner

Death to Kosmische – Nicole Lizee

WTC 9/11 – Steve Reich

Harp and Altar – Missy Mazzoli

Flow – Laurie Anderson

…hold me, neighbor, in this storm – Aleksandra Vrebalov

I try and see Kronos Quartet when they come to town. This concert featured pieces that were written for (or, in the case of Flow, arranged for) the quartet. Many of the pieces featured electronics. In some instances this was a tape rolling in the background, other times ribbon-controlled instruments were used. Sometimes this was a matter of good concept, poor execution. The Reich piece was a treat. WTC 9/11 was written for a triple quartet and tape with pre-recorded voices. It played by Kronos against a recording of Kronos to make up the other two quartets. The voices were all sampled from NORAD or FDNY recordings from the trade center attacks, along with some interviews. The piece begins and ends with the violins doubling a repeated F (the pitch your land line phones give when left off the hook). Reich’s voice tape concentrated on the speakers final vowel or consonant, which made for a very rich, rhythmically complex wall of sound for Kronos to play with. The Laurie Anderson arrangement started out very soft and still, slowly growing to a point when I thought it was going to take off, but ended instead, which was a disappointment not because of the material played, but because it ended so soon. Think of a still pool of water, with someone dropping rocks in it, slowly at first so each ripple spread out. More rocks get dropped and the ripples grow faster and stronger, you are waiting for the big splash that happens when a big rock is thrown into the pool. But that rock is never thrown, instead you realize that you friend who was throwing rocks is no longer beside you and is out of sight.