Hell on Earth and Hell Beyond: the Kronos Quartet in Usher Hall, by Michael Miller

Bosch_hell
Hieronymus Bosch, Triptych of the Last Judgment (detail), 1504, Berlin.

Kronos Quartet
Usher Hall, Sat 21 Aug: 8:00pm

David Harrington, Violin
John Sherba, Violin

Hank Dutt, Viola
Jeffrey Zeigler, Cello

Aleksandra Vrebalov -  ...hold me, neighbor, in this storm...
Steve Reich - Different Trains
George Crumb - Black Angels

The greatest surprise in the Kronos Quartet's concert at Usher Hall was that this was their very first appearance at the Edinburgh Festival. I'd have thought that they'd be regulars going back many years, given their well-known mixture of daring repertory and popular appeal. For almost forty years now, they have achieved almost cult status by playing a certain kind of contemporary music: challenging works which demand concentration but which are sufficiently colorful and aggressive that they commandeer the audience's attention from start to finish. The works in this concert were all endowed with a vast range of color, thanks to the introduction of quite a menagerie of alien instruments and the almost constant use of electronic enhancements. Along with this, the compositions exceeded the limits of music, since they were performances in themselves through the use of elaborate props and lighting — and all of them made their effect by conjuring up images in our imaginations, and through this imagery, telling stories, or relating experiences, feelings, and ideas in a poetic way that more or less consistently suggests a narrative. This internal Gesamtkunstwerk is entirely in harmony with the Edinburgh Festival, and I shouldn't be surprised to see them here again.

Read the full review on the Berkshire Review for the Arts!

Michael Miller