Sequenza21/The Contemporary Classical Music Weekly

Pieces Are Played

Last night, Kronos Quartet played the first of its three concerts scheduled for this weekend. I had planned to arrive safely early for the event at 8 pm � instead, I was quite late to a 7:30 concert. I shelled out $28 for the mezzanine, which for the night also doubled as the nap area for a few of my fellow attendees.

Kronos played the somber program with their usual aplomb. The first piece was Alexandra du Bois� String Quartet No. 3, �Night Songs�. Unfortunately due to my lack of time-telling skills I missed the first half of this piece, and was forced to listen to the second half as I waited outside the door. What I heard was deeply felt music inspired by the writings of Ether Hillesum, a Dutch Holocaust victim. Hopefully someone else can write more in the comments.

The second piece was the premier of Michael Gordon�s �The Sad Park�, a four-part quartet that set Kronos against recordings of children who witnessed 9/11. It was very dark and minimalist in nature as one might expect, with the children being manipulated to sound like anything from ambient noise to a dying giraffe. The piece built to a distorted and terrifying finale, which was exactly what it needed. Gordon received an enthusiastic round of applause afterwards, and it was well deserved.

The finale work on the program was the U.S. premier of Henryk Gorecki�s third quartet, ��songs are sung.� The title comes from a line of a Velimir Khlebnikov poem, which reads, �When people die, they sing songs.� Appropriately, a majority of the 5 movements were grief-stricken and funereal. Most or all of the sections featured cadential silences, slow pulses in the viola and cello, and a strong undercurrent of uncertainty. Only the middle movement of the 52 minute quartet was played at a tempo faster than an adagio, but I never found it to be dragging or uninteresting. Gorecki is capable of writing some of the most unabashedly beautiful music around, but often it is tinged with nostalgia or melancholy. Personally I didn�t find the final movement to be quite as affecting as those that preceded it, but the point was made successfully anyway.

The entire concert lasted about two and a half hours, but miraculously remained consistently interesting. $28 dollars and all, I enjoyed the event greatly � though I�m still kicking myself for arriving late. Forgive me, Miss Du Bois. I doubt many people were snapping their fingers and whistling the themes of the evening afterwards, but I for one left quite moved.

posted by Trevor Hunter 3/25/2006