Their first release since 2009, The Music of Vladimir Martynov includes three works written for Kronos by the leading Russian composer: "The Beatitudes" (1998, rescored for Kronos, 2006), "Schubert-Quintet (Unfinished)" (2009), and "Der Abschied" (2006). Kronos' artistic director and founder David Harrington says Martynov's music "straddles various points of musical history and time; the music seems to me to reflect and absorb humanity in such a beautiful way."
Born in Moscow in 1946, Martynov was the son of a well-known musicologist and writer. He studied music from a young age and attended the Conservatory before expanding his musical pursuits beyond the traditional classical canon and into folk songs, early music, avant-garde, rock, and electronic music. In 1979, he entered the Spiritual Academy at the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius, where he worked on preserving and restoring traditional Russian Orthodox chant. He returned to composition in the 1990s with a new style that combined the traditions of American minimalism with the repetitive chant of Russian Orthodoxy.
Uniko Music Artist : Kronos Quartet Music Label : Ondine Release Date : 2011-02-01 Artistopia's Price :$14.35
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UNIKO features the Grammy winning Kronos Quartet together with a Finnish duo, accordion adventurer Kimmo Pohjonen and sampling guru Samuli Kosminen. Produced by Iceland's Valgeir Sigurosson, known for his collaboration with Bjork, this album was recorded at Avatar Studios in NYC. UNIKO was commissioned by Kronos in 2003 and premiered live at the Helsinki Festival in 2004. It has subsequently drawn sellout audiences in Moscow, Molde (Norway), and New York at the 2007 BAM NEXT WAVE Festival. UNIKO is highlighted by Pohjonen's electrified and MIDI-fied accordion with Kosminen's electronic percussion devices which reproduce his own accordion samples and his samples of Kronos' instruments. These samples, together with live strings and electric accordion plus effects and manipulations create a new, multi-dimensional sound world.
Floodplain Music Artist : Kronos Quartet Music Label : Nonesuch Release Date : 2009-05-19 Artistopia's Price :$12.99
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No Description Available. Genre: Classical Music Media Format: Compact Disk Rating: Release Date: 19-MAY-2009
Steve Reich's WTC 9/11 marks the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, which is the subject of Reich's piece. Commissioned for and recorded by Kronos Quartet, WTC 9/11 is scored for three string quartets and pre-recorded voices. The album also includes Reich's "Mallet Quartet," performed by S Percussion, and "Dance Patterns," featuring members of Steve Reich and Musicians, as well as a DVD with a live performance of "Mallet Quartet" by S Percussion.
WTC 9/11 reflects on the World Trade Center attacks of September 11, 2001, when Reich and his family lived only four blocks away from the site of the tragedy. "On 9/11 we were in Vermont, but our son, granddaughter, and daughter-in-law were all in our apartment. Our phone connection stayed open for six hours and our next-door neighbors were finally able to drive north out of the city with their family and ours. For us, 9/11 was not a media event," the composer says.
The piece is scored for three string quartets; Kronos recorded all three parts for the album. WTC 9/11 also uses pre-recorded voices, the speakers' final vowels and consonants elongated in a stop-motion sound technique that Reich says is the "means of connecting one person to another-harmonically." Those voices and their texts belong to NORAD air traffic controllers, as they raised the alert that the airplanes were off course; FDNY workers on the scene; friends and former neighbors of the Reichs, recalling that day; and women who kept vigil, or Shmira, over the dead in a tent outside the Medical Examiner's office, reading Psalms or Biblical passages. The relationship between Steve Reich and Kronos Quartet spans more than 20 years. This is the third quartet the composer has written for Kronos; all three have been recorded by Nonesuch.
A bold collaboration between America's premier new music quartet, Azerbaijan's best-loved traditional singer, and the leading Afghan rubāb player of his generation. Featured works include Homayun Sakhi's luminous "Rainbow," for string quartet, rubāb, tabla, and Central Asian percussion, and spirited arrangements of Azerbaijani songs performed by Kronos and the Alim Qasimov Ensemble. 6 Tracks, 63 Minutes, 20+ pg Booklet w/ bonus DVD!
