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Kronos Quartet
Short Stories
Kronos Quartet “plays with its characteristic intensity,” says Rolling Stone, on this adventurous, globe-spanning set, which gathers pieces from Lower East Siders Elliot Sharp and John Zorn, Russia's Sofia Gubaidulina, Pakistani singer Pandit Pran Nath, and Chicago bluesman Willie Dixon, among others.
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Kronos Quartet
Pieces of Africa
This “potent new brew of folk influences, Minimalism, and European forms by eight black, brown, and white African composers,” as Time described it, became a cross-cultural and commercial landmark: the first album to top both the classical and world music Billboard charts.
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Kronos Quartet + Astor Piazzolla
Five Tango Sensations
Argentine legend Piazzolla composed this work especially for Kronos. The result, says the New York Times, is a “set of charmingly melodic tangos in which the group supplied an accompaniment to the composer’s urbane performances on the accordion-like bandoneon.”
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Kronos Quartet
Lutosławski: String Quartet
The Polish composer Witold Lutosławski designed his 1964 string quartet as a work that invites interpretation and encourages individualized approach. Says the Los Angeles Times, “Kronos conceives the work as a never-slackening exercise in fiery, forthright emotionalism and dramatic intensity.”
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Kronos Quartet
Volans: Hunting Gathering
Kronos returns to the work of South African composer Kevin Volans. This piece, notes the New York Times, “moves freely among African rhythmic and melodic shapes, contemporary Western harmonies and tone-shaping techniques, and distorted glimpses of Haydnesque Classicism.”
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Kronos Quartet
Black Angels
Composer George Crumb’s title piece, called "an unusually elevated and searing Vietnam War protest" by the New York Times, sets a dark, powerful tone for this collection, which addresses the political/physical/spiritual consequences of war. London’s Evening Standard includes the album among its “100 Definitive Classical CDs of the 20th Century.”
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Kronos Quartet
Riley: Salome Dances for Peace
Minimalist progenitor Terry Riley wrote this ambitious piece for Kronos. “The Quartet,” says the New York Times, “mingles Asian modes, static drones, Arabic melodic arabesques and non-tempered tunings with dissonant Bartókian counterpoint, bluesy inflections, jazzy syncopations, and Minimalist repetition.”
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Steve Reich + Kronos Quartet + Pat Metheny
Different Trains / Electric Counterpoint
On the Grammy-winning Different Trains, performed by Kronos Quartet, Reich evokes his American childhood during World War II while also addressing the Holocaust. The New York Times declared it “a work of such originality that ‘breakthrough’ seems the only possible description.” Pat Metheny performs Electric Counterpoint.
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Kronos Quartet
Winter Was Hard
Kronos draws from a remarkable range of composers, including Arvo Pärt, Astor Piazzolla, Terry Riley, John Lurie, John Zorn. USA Today called it “the most inviting collection of 20th-century music in a long time, easily Kronos' most cohesive album.”
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Kronos Quartet
White Man Sleeps
Brilliantly eclectic collection features South African composer Kevin Volans’s title piece. Ben Johnston’s “Amazing Grace,” says the New York Times, “is a canny blend of modernist skill and folkish Americana worth the price of the record all by itself.”