Vaults: #610 - With Kronos Quartet's David Harrington

It’s another New Sounds program From the Vaults, featuring an hour of music by the Kronos Quartet, presented by founding violinist David Harrington. Back on this 1991 program, Harrington brought with him previews of then forthcoming CD releases of works by Kevin Volans and Astor Piazzola. Also, hear the story behind Istvan Marta’s “Doom – A Sigh,” which contains field recordings of two Romanian women singing personal laments to fallen friends and family. These heart-wrenching sounds are woven into the fabric of the piece, which was written in just 3 short weeks for the quartet, after Marta burned what he had originally written for the group. In fact, there’s more new music than there was time for the show, with excerpts of music by George Crumb, Terry Riley, and the first ever pornographic string quartet by John Zorn.

Here's Kronos Quartet from 1987 on Sesame Street:

And on how a string quartet is like passing a soccer ball:

PROGRAM #610 Music from the Kronos Quartet, with Guest David Harrington (January 17, 1991)

Find the recordings you've heard - go to the New Sounds Recordings Information page