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Kronos Quartet performs Philip Glass | 
| Creators: Philip Glass, Kronos Quartet
Label: Nonesuch
Category: Music
List Price: $16.98
Buy New: $13.85
as of 9/3/2010 03:07 CDT details
You Save: $3.13 (18%)
Seller: Amazon.com
Rating:  reviews
Sales Rank: 12635
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
UPC: 075597935622
EAN: 0075597935622
ASIN: B000005J35
Release Date: February 7, 1995
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| Tracks:
| • | String Quartet No. 5: 1 - I | | • | String Quartet No. 5: 2 - II | | • | String Quartet No. 5: 3 - III | | • | String Quartet No. 5: 4 -- IV | | • | String Quartet No. 5: 5 - V | | • | String Quartet No. 4 (Buczak): 6 - I | | • | String Quartet No. 4 (Buczak): 7 - II | | • | String Quartet No. 4 (Buczak): 8 - III | | • | String Quartet No. 2 (Company): 9 - I | | • | String Quartet No. 2 (Company): 10 - II | | • | String Quartet No. 2 (Company): 11 - III | | • | String Quartet No. 2 (Company): 12 - IV | | • | String Quartet No. 3 (Mishima): 1957: 13 | | • | String Quartet No. 3 (Mishima) (1985): 14 | | • | String Quartet No. 3 (Mishima) (1985): 15 | | • | String Quartet No. 3 (Mishima) (1985): 16 | | • | String Quartet No. 3 (Mishima) (1985): 17 | | • | String Quartet No. 3 (Mishima) (1985): 18 |
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| Customer Reviews:
Glass in four quarts July 22, 2010
Discophage (France)
It is for the Kronos Quartet rather than Phil Glass that I bought this CD. I usually don't warm up too much for the repetitive minimalism of Glass. It isn't the repetition I mind (like everybody I love Ravel's Bolero; and more seriously, there is some repetitive music that I do like. See my review of Ten Holt's Complete Music for Multiple Pianos), it is the predictable and saccharine harmonies, the endless scales and trite harmonic progressions. I wonder if there is something to minimalism that imposes those gooey harmonies, or if it is just laziness and pandering to a certain audience's tastes.
But I've enjoyed some of the collaborations of the Kronos Quartet with some composers more or less associated with minimalism. I consider the quartets composed for them by Terry Riley (Cadenza on the Night Plain, Salome Dances) and Kevin Volans (Kevin Volans: Hunting: Gathering (String Quartet No. 2) (1987) - Kronos Quartet, String Quartets 2 & 3) to be among the masterpieces in the genre composed in, say, the last 30 years of the 20th Century. There are some elements of repetition in these works, but they aren't really repetitive in the way the music of Glass usually is, or like Riley's ground-breaking "In C". They are more indebted to World-music, but a World-music entirely metabolized by each composer and transformed into compositions that are uniquely personal, and highly appealing.
So I picked up that Glass for a try. The disc features his Quartets No. 2 to 5. They were composed in relatively close succession, from 1983 to 1991. I've checked on Glass' Website: so far, he's stopped at 5 (the liner notes mention three discarded youthful essays, which sums up to 8 quartets). The liner notes also refer to the 1st numbered quartet, composed in 1966 as Glass was just finishing his studies with Nadia Boulanger, and apparently one of his first essays at repetitive minimalism. Too bad Kronos didn't choose to record it, since they premiered it (as late as 1986; it must have been gathering dust in Glass' bottom drawer), and since they had already recorded the 2nd Quartet, "Company", on Kronos Quartet: Sculthorpe, Sallinen, Glass, Nuncarrow, Hendrix.
Anyway, the quartets are pure Glass (although the slow movement of the 4th Quartet stands out, see anon), without the fireworks of colors the he elicits from his Philip Glass Ensemble, but with the motoric and obsessive energy, the typical jumps of dynamic levels and, in the moments of repose, the sentimental harmonies that evoke a repetitive Dvorak or Brahms. The high-strung lyricism of the 5th Quartet's third movement - particularly effective - even brought Janacek to mind.
"Company"/SQ No.2 was written as incidental music to a Becket Play and its four short movements are mostly meditative and hushed. Quartet No. 3 also began as Gebrauchsmusik - music for a use: here, part of the soundtrack for Paul Schrader's film on Mishima; it is on that occastion that's Kronos initiated their collaboration with Glass, premiering quartets 1, 2 and 3 and having 5 commissioned for them.
The 4th Quartet, "Buczak", was written in the memory of the artist Brian Buczak, who had died of AIDS in 1988. Not surprisingly, its repetitions develop a more somber and sorrowful mood than your run-of-the-mill Glass. The second movement is not even all that repetitive, but it is beautifully lyrical, mournful in a hushed and sensuous way, bringing to mind the quartets of Szymanowski and Ravel - so unexpected from Glass, it immediately caught back my attention (which, I confess, subjected to so much repetition - even Glass' subtly evolving one - had been prone to drifting).
There is 68 minutes of repetition repetition repetition repetition for string quartet on this well-filled CD, and hearing it all in one intake may be too much of the same sweet thing. But taking it in smaller - shall I dare? - glasses, one or two quart(et)s at a time, has procured enjoyment.
I see that competing recordings have been cropping up like greenery after the shower in the desert: the Carducci Quartet recorded 1 to 4 on Naxos (Glass: String Quartets, Nos. 1-4), the Smith Quartet did the complete series (but on two discs, Philip Glass: Complete String Quartets), and you can find on the German sister company another complete set squeezed on a single disc, by an ensemble that goes by the amusing name of "Paul Klee 4tet", ASIN B002X66S3W. There is also, refered to on Glass' website and listed by the same provider, a recording of Quartets 4 & 5 (paired with Michael Nyman's 3rd), ASIN B00004D3I7. I'd go for them for the sheer sake of completedness, but then, reason commands that I stop the repetition here.
 This music makes the World a better place. April 4, 2010
David Rutten (Poprad, Slovakia)
This is one of my most treasured musical recordings. If I were to go deaf tomorrow, my first thought would be about how I would never again hear the Philip Glass String Quartets. In this performance you will find the very best qualities of Glass and Kronos combined to form a magnificent whole. The score is inventive yet friendly. The rhythms are tight yet fluid. The progression is climactic yes sustaining (if that makes any sense).
With this achievement Glass posits himself firmly amongst the greatest composers of all time.
great music ... good performance March 13, 2010
Arnold Cusmariu
It's something of a mystery to me why Glass' chamber music is not better known. Maybe that's something for him to ponder, or his publicist/agent. The composer turned 73 in January. How time flies ...
The 5th quartet is a masterpiece, pure and simple. The other quartets are also wonderful. I remember playing this music over and over while reading or working and never tiring of it. Mozart has the same effect on me. So, there you have it. (Ignore the negative reviews.)
Wonderful sound .. simple beauty ! March 8, 2009
W. Todd Penberthy
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This CD has a fantastic thick & gorgeous sound. Highly recommended. It just sounds divine & absolutely wonderful on headphones.
A brilliant piece for the winter months November 17, 2008
Jacqueline Stuart (Burlington, VT)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I have been a fan of Kronos Quartet since the early 90s. Pieces of Africa, Night Prayers, and Henryk Górecki: Already It Is Dusk (String Quartet No. 1, Op. 62)/ Quasi una Fantasia (String Quartet No. 2, Op. 64) are among my favorite. But Kronos Quartet Performs Philip Glass, is the most rejoicing, ironically festive and beautifully composed cd by them.
I purchased Kronos Quartet Performs Philip Glass when it was first released back in February 1995. Up here in Vermont, early February still means the dead of winter. I recall listening to Kronos Quartet Performs Philip Glass incessantly during that winter season, particularly on my long drives between school, work and home. I certainly still attribute this cd to sunny, but cold winter days, meandering through nameless roads. In fact, I'm not sure I could listen to it during the summer months, because the music itself connotes a wintery landscape--the hurried and ceaseless strings remind me of deer leaping across snow-covered fields. Unlike many of Kronos Quartet's cds that are rather avant garde, Kronos Quartet Performs Philip Glass is a lovely piece that delivers an unexpectedly light and linear flow throughout its entire audio composition--perfect for the long and dark Vermont winter months.
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