Kronos Quartet's worldwide musical journey

Kronos Quartet brought their diverse repertoire to
Norwich Theatre Royal

On Tuesday 17th May 2011 I was back at Norwich Theatre Royal for the Kronos Quartet concert. The programme for the night was Aheym (Homeward) - Bryce Dessner, Clouded Yellow - Michael Gordon, Flow - Laurie Anderson (arr. Jacob Garchik), Untitled - Damon Albarn, Death is the Road to Awe from The Fountain - Clint Mansell (arr. Kronos Quartet), hold me neighbor, in the storm... (Aleksandra Vrebalov) and WTC 9/11 (Steve Reich).

The Kronos Quartet are David Harrington - violin, John Sherba - violin, Hank Dutt - viola and Jeffrey Zeigler - cello. Formed in 1973 by David Harrington, the Kronos Quartet have built up a diverse repertoire of music that have pushed the boundaries of Classical Music. They put a lot of innovation and experimentation into their work and performances which made for a very interesting evening.

Clouded Yellow was particularly wonderful, that was inspired by the clouded yellow butterfly that takes part in mass migrations that are known as clouded yellow years. Aleksandra Vrebalov's piece hold me, neighbor, in this storm... featured ethnic Balkan instruments, the gusle and tapan. It connects different sounds from folk and religious music connected to Serbia.

Steve Reich's WTC 9/11 was a dramatic way to finish the concert. This piece includes pre-recorded voices starting with recordings by the North American Aerospace Defense Command and the New York City Fire Department, and then from interviews with residents who lived or worked in lower Manhattan.

After this diverse programme of music we were then treated to a encore of music from Iceland, Greece and Egypt. This has to be one of the highlights of this year's Norfolk and Norwich Festival with the diverse and thought provoking music. The Kronos Quartet left the stage with the sound of loud applause ringing in their ears.