KRONOS QUARTET : WHITE MAN SLEEPS [Elektra Nonesuch]

Catalogue :  Elektra Nonesuch / 9791631Format : LP, VinylCondition : Used /Near Mint Country : USAReleased : 1987Genre : New Classical  In a brilliant example of creative programming, the first seven pieces, while written from Beijing to Tennessee over a period of 70 years, flow together into an organic whole, functioning as movements of an implied larger work greater than the sum of the individual parts. Kronos caps the program with Bela Bartok’s riveting 1927 Quartet# 3 which not only foreshadows the innovative technique and emotional breadth of all the other selections but trumps them with a tight, efficient, confident focus. It’s a valiant gesture imbued with taste and integrity, as if, having explored the range of more modern quartet music, Kronos simply had to bow in awe before the magnetic splendor of an earlier visionary masterpiece.