From Ken Hunt’s liner notes: “Hunting:Gathering itself started out as part of a series of pieces originally called African Paraphrases… and, parts are, to appropriate Volans’ term, ‘paraphrases’ from Ethiopian, Zimbabwean and Malian music. Its textures are deeply African. The cornerstone of its success lies in the expert way in which Volans not only draws inspiration from the tensions – real or figurative – between the African cultural and Western classical elements in the piece but also reconciles those tensions.”

Kevin Volans on the work: “By the time I came to write Hunting:Gathering, I was tired of the compositional etude – the ‘one idea’ piece – and I thought it would be interesting to write something which included as many different kinds of music as possible – the opposite of minimalism, if you like. In Hunting:Gathering, there are about 23 different pieces of music in the space of 26 minutes.”

SELECT CREDITS

Kronos Quartet
David Harrington, violin
John Sherba, violin
Hank Dutt, viola
Joan Jeanrenaud, cello

Produced by Judith Sherman
Executive Producer: Robert Hurwitz