Kronos Quartet
Hamburg International Music Festival
What does the universe sound like? The legendary Kronos Quartet gives a concrete answer to the question with the piece »Sun Rings« by Terry Riley, the high priest of minimal music, who sets real NASA recordings in this work. But these remarkably versatile musicians also show that they can switch effortlessly from crossover jazz from their native America to Irish folk and Chinese avant-garde in their concert programme. In keeping with the festival motto »Utopia« and their own project »Fifty for the Future«, which sponsors young composers, they bring together visionary music from every continent, generation and style: in short, music that overcomes boundaries.
The Kronos Quartet is one of today’s leading ensembles for contemporary music. The quartet has a repertoire numbering some 600 works – three times as many as the complete string quartet oeuvre of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and Brahms. This remarkable number is easily explained: since the quartet was founded in 1973, they have commissioned no fewer than 400 compositions from composers all over the world. The result is a quite unique formation with a colourful and varied repertoire, and a stage presence that is every bit its equal.
Performers
Kronos Quartet
David Harrington violin
John Sherba violin
Hank Dutt viola
Sunny Yang violoncello
Programme
Aleksandra Vrebalov
My desert, my rose
Islam Chipsy
Zaghlala
Nicole Lizée
Another Living Soul
Sahba Aminikia
Pareeshān (Abstracted)
Laurie Anderson
Flow / Bearbeitung von Jacob Garchik
Konono No. 1
Kule Kule (Arrangement: Jherek Bischoff)
Onutė Narbutaitė
just strings and a light wind above them
George Gershwin
Summertime / Porgy and Bess, arr. Jacob Garchik, nach Janis Joplin
Wladimir Martynow
The beatitudes
– Interval –
Wu Man
Silk and bamboo / aus: Four chinese paintings
Frangis Ali-Sade
Rəqs (Dance)
Kala Ramnath
Amrit / arr. Reena Esmail
Rhiannon Giddens
At the Purchaser’s Option with Variations (Arrangement: Jacob Garchik)
Anonymus
God Shall Wipe all Tears away
Omar Souleyman
La Sidounak Sayyada (Arrangement: Jacob Garchik)
Terry Riley
One earth, one people, one love / Sun Rings für Streichquartett, Chor und Weltraumklänge