KRONOS FESTIVAL
Program Notes

God-music from Black Angels (1970)
George Crumb

“Things were turned upside down. There were terrifying things in the air . . . they found their way into Black Angels.”
—George Crumb, 1990

Black Angels is probably the only quartet to have been inspired by the Vietnam War. The work draws from an arsenal of sounds including shouting, chanting, whistling, whispering, gongs, maracas, and crystal glasses. The score bears two inscriptions: “in tempore belli” (in time of war) and “Finished on Friday the Thirteenth, March, 1970.”

Black Angels was conceived as a kind of parable on our troubled contemporary world. The work portrays a voyage of the soul. The three stages of this voyage are Departure (fall from grace), Absence (spiritual annihilation) and Return (redemption).

The numerological symbolism of Black Angels, while perhaps not immediately perceptible to the ear, is nonetheless quite faithfully reflected in the musical structure. These “magical” relationships are variously expressed: e.g., in terms of length, groupings of single tones, durations, patterns of repetition, etc. . . . There are several allusions to tonal music: a quotation from Schubert’s Death and the Maiden quartet; an original Sarabanda; the sustained B-major tonality of God-music; and several references to the Latin sequence Dies Irae (Day of Wrath). The work abounds in conventional musical symbolisms such as the Diabolus in Musica (the interval of the tritone) and the Trillo Di Diavolo (the Devil’s Trill, after Tartini).

Black Angels appears on Kronos’ Nonesuch recording of the same name which was released in August 1990.

Kavuki (arr. 2020)  world premiere
Traditional (arr. Sahba Aminikia)
Film by Kevork Mourad and Vafa Aminikia
with Shahram Nazeri, vocals

English Translation:
My red Kavuki, vay vay
My white bird, Kabuki
The pain and sadness of lonely nights,
Made me desperate and ready to die
I am in love with you, vay vay
Beautiful Kurdish girl, vay vay

About Kavuki, Sahba Aminikia writes:

“Kavuki is a re-imagination of a folk Kurdish wedding song which is popular among Kurds throughout the region including Iran, Iraq, Turkey, and Syria. Shahram Nazeri is a legendary Iranian vocalist of Kurdish descent and has been a symbol of Iranian identity throughout the last 50 years of his career. He is now joining hands with another group of legendary musicians, Kronos Quartet, and my dear friend and spectacular artist from Syria, Kevork Mourad, to form a meaningful, timeless collaboration. It was a very humbling experience to be a small part of this once-in-a-lifetime musical incident and this insightful journey. “

My Desert, My Rose (2015)
By Aleksandra Vrebalov

About My Desert, My Rose, Aleksandra Vrebalov writes:

“My Desert, My Rose consists of a series of patterns open in length, meter, tempo, and dynamics, different for each performer. The unfolding of the piece is almost entirely left to each performer’s sensibility and responsiveness to the parts of other members of the group. Instinct and precision are each equally important in the performance of the piece. The patterns are (notated as) suggested rather than fixed musical lines, so the flow and the length of the piece are unique to each performance. The lines merge and align to separate and then meet again, each time in a more concrete and tighter way. The piece ends in a metric unison, like a seemingly coincidental meeting of the lines predestined to reunite. It is like a journey of four characters that start in distinctly different places, who, after long searching and occasional, brief meeting points, end up in the same space, time, language.

“The writing of this piece, in a form as open and as tightly coordinated at the same time, was possible thanks to 20 years of exposure to rehearsal and performance habits of the Kronos Quartet, a group for which I have written 13 out of 14 of my pieces involving string quartet.”

Tegere Tulon: II. Dulen (2018)  world premiere
Music by Hawa Kassé Mady Diabaté (arr. Jacob Garchik)
Film by Moustapha Diallo and Lucy Durán
with Hawa Kassé Mady Diabaté and Rokia Kouyaté, vocals

Hawa Kassé Mady Diabaté’s Tegere Tulon takes her back to her roots and forwards into the realm of composition. Commissioned to compose a piece for Kronos’ 50 for the Future project, Hawa decided to revisit the handclapping songs of her childhood, which were such formative experiences for her, and which are gradually dying out except in remote villages.

Performed exclusively by girls outdoors in a circle, usually on moonlit nights, the handclapping songs are normally very short, consisting of one or two phrases repeated in call and response, often involving counting, each one with its own dance. Children make them up spontaneously, using the rhythms of language to generate musical rhythm, with playful movements, some individual, some coordinated by the whole circle. Building on her own memories of the handclapping songs she used to do as a young girl in Kela, Hawa has created four new pieces in handclapping style, which she hopes will encourage Malians not to abandon this rich cultural heritage. The lyrics are humorous and poignant—they talk about the importance of family, the teasing relationship between kalime “cross-cousins” (a man’s children and his sister’s children are cross-cousins), a girl who loves dancing so much she falls into a well and then climbs out, and how long it takes to get to Funtukuru, her husband’s village, where she went to film handclapping.

Mali is a predominantly Muslim society, where a man can take up to four wives, according to the holy Quran. Children by different mothers are considered rivals, while children by the same mother are seen as having a harmonious relationship, known as badenya in Bamana, the main language of southern Mali.

Hawa is herself the daughter of a polygamous marriage, and a member of a vast extended family of griots, many of whom are recognised as some of the most important musicians of the 20th century and even further back into pre-colonial times. She is very aware of the importance of solidarity in families, which she evokes in “Dulen,” the second song in her Tegere Tulon, through the example of badenya. An added factor is that when a couple gets married, traditionally the bride goes to live with her husband’s family, and her in-laws do not always treat her as they would their own daughter.

Hawa explains that in this, she exhorts the new husband through metaphor and flattery to treat his new wife as if part of his own kin. Without actually saying so, she compares the husband to the cool, protective shade of a tree—it is long-lasting and beneficial, and should be celebrated (yogobe ko). She then refers to him as ‘fine soap’—a cherished commodity in villages of the savannah of West Africa.

Musically, the structure of this song uses a kind of mirror image that is found in many of the oldest song styles in the region. The verse of these songs has four lines: ABCD. The solo voice takes A, the chorus responds with B, the soloist sings C and D. Then they swap roles: The chorus sings line A, the soloist responds with B, and the chorus sings lines C and D. With this mirrored structure, the young girls who are doing the handclapping songs learn to perform all the lines with equal confidence, and the texture is continually varied.

Program note by Professor Lucy Durán

Adrift (2020)  world premiere
Music written by and performed with Vân-Ánh Võ, dan Bau
Film by Braden King and Deborah Johnson

About Adrift, Vân-Ánh Võ writes:

“Ba chìm, bảy nổi, chín lênh đênh”
—Vietnamese idiom

“three waves up – seven waves down – nine waves just floating — it is the ebb and flows of life”

“Our grandparents taught us that, in the river of life, if you can survive three rounds of drowning, seven rounds of floating, and nine rounds of staying adrift, nothing can kill you and you will be very strong in your mind, your will, and your heart.

“This idiom has been helping me to survive during this time when everything is seemingly frozen and we are all restricted, to be in a state of mind where resilience has shown to be the most important thing, so I can share my music and passions again.

“The left-hand techniques—the soul of Vietnamese traditional music—on dan Bau in this piece has been reflected in the string quartet’s parts as the players following each other’s footsteps. On the other hand, dan Bau adapts the bowing technique from the quartet to be one step closer to be harmonized in sound and feeling. The cello plays the role of filler throughout the piece, almost like a person paddling in a boat to get us further.

“Adrift was written specially for our current circumstances, ones where we are unable to perform together live. Instead of combatting the woes of network latency, I’ve decided to embrace it by writing this piece in such a way where we ‘float’ around the notes, drifting through the bars of music together, and with the concept of time signature founded on the feelings of the musicians and their own adaptations. This flexibility to drift together with our partners creates the strength we need to keep evolving.”

KRONOS FESTIVAL Science Report: Snails
with Alyssa Tam, correspondent
Filmed by Jung Park
Script by Fionn Quinn
Video edited by Kayla LaCour

Bremen Musicians (2016)
Wind-up mechanical music box
Created by Yuliya Lanina
Music by Yevgeniy Sharlat

Bremen Musicians is part of Tales We Tell, a series of small-scale mechanical sculptures based on popular folk tales. Collectively, they examine the underlying moral messages of fairy tales and their effect on a child’s psyche. Each sculpture is a wind-up toy comprised of a painted wooden box with moving figures, as well as music clockwork that plays a custom-composed melody particular to each scene.

The music is played by a revolving brass cylinder that plucks the tuned teeth of a steel comb.

Excerpt from None of the Above (1984)
Music by Frank Zappa
Film: Excerpt from Zappa by Alex Winter

The story goes that as a young man Frank Zappa stumbled across an album of the music of Edgar Varèse, and it marked him for life. His varied and enduring output through the years in rock music has been characterized by innovation, eclecticism, and a mad humor balanced with a very serious attention to the music.

In a late 1970s interview, Zappa said, “I think of myself as a composer who happens to have the guitar as his main instrument. Most composers used to play the piano. Well, I’m not a piano player…”

Rarely at a loss for words, Zappa prefers to let his music speak for itself, but he did have one comment for the Kronos musicians: “You asked for it.”

Zappa’s own record label, Barking Pumpkin Records, has released an album of his orchestral works entitled Zappa, Vol. 1, featuring the London Symphony Orchestra.

Program notes courtesy of Kronos Quartet

Gullah-Geechee Culture and the American Folklife Center (2021)
By Todd Harvey and the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress

Testimony (2019)
Charlton Singleton

About Testimony, Charlton Singleton writes:

“Growing up in the church (my father is now a retired African Methodist Episcopal Church pastor) I was surrounded by Praise in many forms, but especially through music. Some of the things that I experienced frequently were special programs, aside from the regular Morning Worship on Sundays: Choir Anniversaries, Usher Anniversaries, and ‘Singings.’ It was normal to be in attendance of these programs from the early afternoon into the night. As a young musician growing up around many other musicians, I naturally observed and took in a lot. One of the things that I recognized later in my life, reflecting back on my childhood musical experiences, was the level of musicality from some of the ‘ordinary’ parishioners in church. I recalled that they almost always had incredible harmonies that weren’t necessarily the norm, as well as incredible timing with regards to rhythm. Those two traits made musical experiences at church pretty awesome.

“At a lot of the ‘Singings,’ where there would be choirs and other vocal ensembles from area churches, I would frequently see a Prayer Band. This is not an ordinary band. This band is usually three to four people who have their voices, their hands, and their feet to create music. The Prayer Band usually has the responsibility of getting the congregation prepared for worship. Today, it is simply known as the Praise and Worship Band or Ensemble, and they usually have a rhythm section backing them.

“Here is how the Prayer Band would operate: There is someone that usually ‘raises up’ (or starts singing) a song. It may be a song that is familiar to everyone or it may not be familiar at all. If it is unfamiliar, then it’s usually pretty easy for everyone to catch on quickly. At the beginning of these songs, there could be a prayer or chant where the rest of the members are humming or moaning. At the conclusion of the prayer or chant, the person leading it will start a faster song, which then leads to a lot of ‘praise and worship’ in the congregation. At the conclusion of their song, there will be another member of the Prayer Band that takes over, and the whole process is repeated.

“Testimony is written from the Prayer Band experience, and from specific rhythms in African American churches and communities—the ‘Gullah Clap’ (on beats two, two-and, and four) and the ‘Half Clap’ (on beat one only).”

Pink Book (2021)  world premiere
Written and performed by Kayla Pellom, poet
Film by Miguel Navarro
with Abdiel De La Paz and Elizabeth Merchan

Music sampled from Yevgeniy Sharlat’s pencil sketch from Kronos’ 50 for the Future, remixed by Joel Tarman

Kayla Pellom recorded by Joel Tarman at Sunset Youth Services
Produced by Joel Tarman and Sunset Youth Services

Pink Book – Text:

i found them. pink with roses and tattered stickers. hidden in a tiny box filter with flowers and dust. this box sat amongst my baby things. only collecting time. it was her diary. a book filled with thoughts, dreams, letters. even love poems from a man unknown. i never asked her about these. never asked about the words she had written. never told her i found them or that someone had read what happened to the love they shared. and now, because i know too much. i stare at her. my mother. she always so beautiful, who knew the san francisco streets that she hoped would save me hurt her so. {badly}. i think. i think about those wrinkled pages. i think about them often actually. especially when chaos consumes on nights like these. moon full and belly full with all we could consume. swallowing like savages, we on cloud 9 with brown acid and red eye. i wonder where i am. i wonder if those diaries would tell me secrets or truths. i wonder if they knew which twin was at its peak or if they are sisters of equal heights. your jacket barely provided warmth much like you words and actions. our skate up made my bones cold much like your touch. her diary claimed that love took care. his letters always confirmed he cared. if so then why was your jacket so cold, your words so blistering, you touch ever distant. only warmth was in your bed and even then your window overlooking bay views always brought in frisco fog. i guess that what i missed in her point behind her pink rule book. “​NEXT MOVE?” ​a voice. i know its yours. with quick glance and blunt in tow “SURE”​ wasn’t uncommon for nights like this. nights where you’d drag through a city unknown and allow you to think you show me something new. unknowing smile on your face, i’ve memorized her pink story book. following a long with a head full of words about their love, who jumped who on the back of muni, who kissed who on walks down mission, who drank and fucked and spit prideful profanitys on dolores, who broke whos heart at to the sound of seals at pier 39. these all tales i’ve mapped a new city too. she was right. she hadn’t lied when she said standing at the base of coit was like standing amounts titans. she didn’t miss when stating coit was a windy tower and it was here we’d ran out of liquid courage and my feet had grown tired. we even lost the moon in our chase for nightless youth. i wonder when you would offer me home. but you never did. not once on our nightly adventures would you offer me home. youd wrangle me to the next 14. kiss my numbed nose and walk opposite. id watch through dirty glass and listen to the beeping of bus doors. she never mentioned weather he would leave or stay. just how boys made her feel so alone, you know in their boyish ways. i wonder. i wonder if i missed something behind that pink cover. i wonder did she miss those tan wrinkled pages. if she missed that pink book and its tattered stickers.

—

Pink Book was developed as part of Kronos Music: Remix, a collaboration between Kronos Quartet / Kronos Performing Arts Association and Sunset Youth Services in San Francisco. Sunset Youth Services (SYS) has a long track record of helping in-risk youth realize their potential as artists, musicians, recording engineers, and community leaders. SYS serves 14–24-year-olds who struggle with chaotic family systems, destructive behavioral patterns, trauma, and drug use. Because the youth served by SYS often experience traumatic life events, programs are designed to create physically and emotionally safe spaces where activities are flexible, age appropriate, gender responsive and relationally rich. Kronos and SYS share a commitment to encouraging work that addresses social issues, especially in marginalized or adversely impacted communities.

Participants of Kronos Music: Remix engage with works commissioned for Kronos’ 50 for the Future, a learning library of pieces by composers from around the world designed to introduce student musicians of all ages to contemporary music. Kronos’ professional recordings of selected works from 50 for the Future are provided to participants as source material for the creation of their own new work as remixes and original songs. This material encompasses a diverse array of musical traditions and cultural backgrounds, which participants are empowered to incorporate into their own personal expression. The structure of the project prioritizes opportunities for youth to collaborate one-on-one and in small groups, with creative mentorship from Kronos and technical guidance from the staff of SYS.

Kronos Music: Remix is supported in part by the California Arts Council, a state agency. Additional support is provided by The Sam Mazza Foundation and San Francisco Grants for the Arts.

The Beatitudes (1998, rescored for Kronos 2006)
Vladimir Martynov

About The Beatitudes, David Harrington writes:

“This is a re-scoring of a work for choir that I heard on a CD that Andrey Kotov, the conductor of the Sirin Choir in Moscow, gave each member of Kronos. I went back to my hotel room and listened to the whole CD, which was typical Russian liturgical music, until the last track, which was this astonishing piece by Vladimir Martynov, who had already written two works for Kronos. I had been looking for something sublime for Awakening, a concert program we put together as a musical meditation for the fifth anniversary of 9/11, and late that night in Moscow I knew that I had heard it. When I got back to San Francisco, I was in touch with Vladimir, who agreed to create a version of The Beatitudes for pre-recorded quartet and live quartet specifically for that performance. The Beatitudes are truly a rare moment of perfection.”

Recorded track performed by Kronos and produced by Kronos and Scott Fraser.

Vladimir Martynov’s The Beatitudes was rescored for the Kronos Quartet. Kronos’ recording appears on the Nonesuch release Music of Vladimir Martynov, which includes several of the composer’s works commissioned for Kronos.

Aleksandra Vrebalov’s My Desert, My Rose, Hawa Kassé Mady Diabaté’s Tegere Tulon, Charlton Singleton’s Testimony, and Yevgeniy Sharlat’s pencil sketch were commissioned as part of the Kronos Performing Arts Association’s 50 for the Future: The Kronos Learning Repertoire, which is made possible by a group of adventurous partners, including Carnegie Hall and many others.