Kronos Quartet Shares First Of Five Playlists Celebrating Its Five Decades

New York, NY (Top40 Charts) As part of Kronos: Five Decades, the year-long celebration of Kronos Quartet's 50th anniversary, the group is publishing five decade-spanning playlists curated by its founder and violinist David Harrington. The first, featuring music Kronos performed in its first decade, 1973-1982, is out now. It includes works the quartet would later record on Nonesuch by George Crumb, Ken Benshoof, Terry Riley, Anton Webern, Peter Sculthorpe, Dmitri Shostakovich, Jimi Hendrix, Aulis Sallinen, Alban Berg, Witold Lutosławski, and Samuel Barber. You can hear it on Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube here and below.

As Kronos's anniversary season continues with further concerts around the world, Nonesuch will release the first-ever vinyl edition of the group's acclaimed 1995 album, Kronos Quartet Performs Philip Glass, on November 3; you can pre-order it here. The two-LP set, produced by the composer, Judith Sherman, and Kurt Munkacsi, features violinists David Harrington and John Sherba, violist Hank Dutt, and cellist Joan Jeanrenaud performing quartets No. 2 (Company) (1983), No. 3 (Mishima) (1985), No. 4 (Buczak) (1990), and No. 5 (1991), the first piece Glass wrote for Kronos. "It contains some of Glass's best music since Koyaanisqatsi," said the New York Times. "His ear for sumptuous string sonorities is undeniable." The Washington Post called it "an ideal combination of composer and performers."