Last Friday, Kronos Quartet performed composer Terry Riley's Sun Rings at two events in Germany. The Quartet's latest Nonesuch release also features a work by the composer, The Cusp of Magic. The piece, says JamBase, "delivers subtlety and tenderness in exchange for open ears and hearts. Far from the gravity and self-importance of classical/art-music, the album ... deals in a light playfulness that won't fail to rub off."
Last Friday, Kronos Quartet performed composer Terry Riley's Sun Rings at two events in Germany. The Quartet's latest Nonesuch release also features a work by the composer, the premiere recording of his 2004 piece The Cusp of Magic, performed with pipa virtuoso Wu Man. The piece, says JamBase's Josh Potter, is part of a larger musical story in which Riley is a key player.
"The story of American music has largely been that of vernacular traditions," writes Potter, "their unlikely origins, evolution, and (ultimate) transcendence. When minimalist composers like Terry Riley started synthesizing Eastern idioms into classical arrangements, art music joined the conversation."
With The Cusp of Magic, Riley is writing in "a wholly contemporary realm somewhere between the classical, Chinese, Appalachian, and DIY genres," the article states. Potter further describes the piece and the Kronos recording this way:
Engrossing in a manner that requires the listener's active engagement, The Cusp of Magic delivers subtlety and tenderness in exchange for open ears and hearts. Far from the gravity and self-importance of classical/art-music, the album ... deals in a light playfulness that won't fail to rub off.
To read the article, visit jambase.com.
