Sunday the 13th I saw The Kronos Quartet at Hertz Hall with a special appearance by Joan Jeanrenaud, who left the quartet ten years ago. She played with them on the Vladimir Martynow piece Scubert-Quintet (Unfinished). Commissioned by Joan, the piece is essentially Martynow’s “take” on Schubert’s long flowing lines. It was lovely to hear Joan with the Kronos again. After the intermission, the new Kronos, with Jeffrey Zeigler on cello, performed Transylvanian Horn Courtship, by Terry Riley, who was in attendance.
The piece was performed by the Kronos on Stroh instruments which have horns attached as resonators. Stroh violins were invented before microphones to amplify the acoustic violin, and have a midrangey almost sitar-like buzz to them. These instruments were designed to sound a fifth lower than concert at Riley’s request. He has written 25 pieces for Kronos. Whether one likes his music or not (and I do) Riley is a consummate writer for string quartet. I’ve always admired the Kronos for building their own audience and careers from the ground up.
Gregory James
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