Kronos Quartet - The Cusp Of Magic

TRACKLISTING: 1 The Cusp Of Magic, 2 Buddha’s Bedroom, 3 Nursery, 4 Royal Wedding, 5 Emily & Alice, 6 Prayer Circle,

OVERVIEW: 'The Cusp of Magic' continues Kronos' extraordinary, career-length collaboration/ with composer Terry Riley, the progenitor of the minimalist movement. Riley has written many pieces for the group and Kronos have performed and recorded such major works as Salome Dances For Peace (1989) and Sun Rings (2002). The Cusp of Magic commemorates Riley's birthday and was written for Kronos Quartet and Wu Man, the most internationally renowned player of the pipa, or Chinese lute. The Guardian declared, "Riley's music fearlessly blurs boundaries between eastern and western traditions, and between high and low culture. He has certainly travelled a long way as a composer since he sowed the seeds of minimalism in the 60's". Riley himself has remarked, "The Cusp of Magic significantly fills the picture that my collaboration with Kronos has been portraying for nearly 25 years. My compositions for Kronos are the most important of my notated works, each one staking out a different mood and musical structure and setting up new challenges for both composer and performer. In this work, the different timbre and resonance of the Chinese pipa and the western string ensemble highlight the crossover regions of cultural reference, so that western musical themes might be projected with an eastern accent and vice-versa’. The title of the piece refers to the summer solstice, and the piece has a magical, mysterious and occasionally playful quality to it. Riley incorporates digital samples of musical toys from a collection Harrington has amassed over years of touring. Riley also asked Wu Man to compose and perform short lullabies in Chinese. For all its child-like moments, though, The Cusp Of Magic has darker tones around its edges; says Riley, "I feel this relates to the reality of our present times that are so threatened by the war-posturing of my nation, looming like a dark cloud over our young". The Kronos Quartet have enjoyed yet another remarkable year, marked by the long-awaited recording of Henryk Gorecki’s 'Songs Are Sung' and appearances at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave Festival, the San Francisco Jazz Festival a Neil Young’s annual Bridge School Benefit, where the group were joined by Tom Waits.

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