Kronos Quartet's performance in Brooklyn's Prospect Park last Thursday, part of the annual Celebrate Brooklyn! series of free outdoor concerts, was notable both for averting the forecast downpours and for offering the sort of program for which the group earned once more the label "groundbreaking" in the New York Times concert review.

Reviewer Steve Smith described the crowd as "large, diverse and boisterously appreciative," not least for the New York premiere of Aheym, a new piece by the National songwriter-guitarist and Brooklyn resident Bryce Dessner, and the world premiere from another Brooklynite, Missy Mazzoli's Harp and Altar, featuring recorded vocals by Gabriel Kahane. Smith cites as confirmation of "the quartet’s omnivorous appetite" other works on the program by Sigur Rós, Michael Gordon, Café Tacuba, and Clint Mansell.

The concert also featured a number of works off Kronos's latest Nonesuch release, Floodplain, a collection of original arrangements of traditional music and newly commissioned pieces from Egypt, Azerbaijan, Palestine, and Serbia. Among those on Thursday's program were several "standouts" for Smith, including Raga Mishra Bhairavi, with its "exquisite playing" from the group's violist, Hank Dutt.

Read the full concert review at nytimes.com.

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The Toronto Star gives Floodplain a perfect four out of four stars. "The Kronos Quartet never disappoints," exclaims reviewer John Terauds, "but on their latest disc they are even better than ever."

Terauds describes the Quartet as "tried-and-true American new music explorers" and calls attention to a few tracks in particular off the new album, from its opener, Ya Habibi Ta'ala (My Love, Come Quickly), which starts things off "in elegant style," to his favorite, the traditional Iranian lullaby arranged by Kronos and Jacob Garchik. "It's an ideal way in which to contemplate a summer sunset."

The review concludes: "There isn't a single musical moment left wanting among the 12 tracks, which time out at a generous 79 minutes."

Read more at thestar.com.

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The Arkansas Democrat-Gazzette gives the album an A-. Reviewer Ellis Widner says that "Kronos and its collaborators keep a soulful spirit aloft in this remarkable musical and cultural fusion." He, too, recommends Ya Habibi as a standout track, as well as the album closer, "the remarkable" piece by Serbian-born composer Aleksandra Vrebalov ... hold me, neighbor, in this storm ... Read the album review at www2.arkansasonline.com.