Kronos Quartet drums up a new sideman from Wilco
It was a collaboration waiting to happen.
The Kronos Quartet has resisted the mold of a typical classical string quartet since its founding in 1973. The four musicians have focused on works by living composers, from California-based, pioneering minimalist Terry Riley to talents from the Middle East and Africa. For decades, Kronos has played Jimi Hendrix’s hard-rocking “Purple Haze” as an encore.
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KRONOS QUARTET
FEATURING GLENN KOTCHE
When: 8 p.m. Wednesday
Where: Ravinia Festival, Lake-Cook and Green Bay, Highland Park
Tickets: $10-$40
Phone: (847) 266-5100
Glenn Kotche — since 2001 the drummer with Wilco, the critically acclaimed Chicago indie-rock band — is similarly eclectic. Now, in his late 30s, he has musical interests that range far beyond rock ’n’ roll. Born in northwest suburban Roselle, he studied at the University of Kentucky, well-known for its percussion program. In addition to his work with Wilco, he plays experimental jazz and has recorded three solo CDs featuring his own compositions.
Kronos and Kotche found each other two years ago, and on Wednesday night Ravinia Festival audiences will hear what they have been up to. Kotche’s “Anomaly,” a piece for string quartet and percussion that had its premiere last fall in San Francisco, will be among the works performed by Kronos in Ravinia’s Martin Theatre. Featuring Kotche on percussion, “Anomaly” shares the program with John Adams’ “Fellow Traveler,” written last year for Kronos; the world premiere of String Quartet No 4 (“Cradle Song”) by Polish composer Hanna Kulenty, and “... hold me, neighbor, in this storm ...” by Serbian composer Aleksandra Vrebalov.
Kotche’s third solo CD, “Mobile,” released in 2006 by Nonesuch, was the link that brought the percussionist and the San Francisco-based quartet together. Kronos also records on Nonesuch, and David Harrington, the quartet’s founder and violinist, keeps track of the label’s offerings.
“We regularly get copies of the other releases on Nonesuch,” said Harrington. “I had heard Wilco, obviously, before that. But when I first heard Glenn’s music [on ‘Mobile’], I thought it was really interesting.”
Kotche’s inspiration for the pieces on “Mobile” ranged from “Clapping Music,” an early, rhythmically mesmerizing piece by Steve Reich (one of Kronos’ favorite composers) to the sculptures of Alexander Calder. But Harrington can’t say exactly why the drummer’s intense exploration of intricate rhythms caught his ear.
“It’s very hard to describe what it is that [draws] you to anything,” he said, “but you just have to trust it. There was something there that seemed special to me, and it made me want to meet [Kotche] and talk to him about music. When that happens, I always trust it.
“That’s what’s led us,” said Harrington with a laugh, “to the 650 pieces that have been written for us so far.”
At about the same time, Kronos was moving onto Kotche’s radar.
“I was in New York doing press for ‘Mobile,’ ” the drummer said, “and saw Kronos do the East Coast premiere of Terry Riley’s ‘The Cusp of Magic.’ I got the idea in my head at that point that it would be nice to branch out. All my writing had always been for percussion, but ‘Mobile’ was a big step for me. My previous solo records were more studio creations — collages, improvisations — but ‘Mobile’ was actually composing. I was thinking it would be interesting to transfer that to a string quartet.”
Kotche knew very little about how string instruments worked, so the transfer took him into new territory. He had never studied composition formally, but he pulled out a few textbooks from his orchestration classes at the University of Kentucky.
“I read a lot and I listened a lot,” he said. “I still had some of my orchestration books, so I just kind of dug into it.”
Harrington had no worries that Kotche would have trouble composing for string instruments. Kronos rehearsals always include a lot of back and forth between players and composer, he said.
“We sent [Kotche] a bunch of our recordings of many different kinds of music,” said Harrington. “So many people who have written for us had never written for string quartet until they wrote for us. Henryk Gorecki, Astor Piazzolla, Terry Riley, Steve Reich — there’s a long list.
“He’s so modest,” said Harrington, referring to Kotche. “Anybody who is that interested in learning new things, I always find that a good sign. I trust that the elements of an incredible musical experience will be there somehow if the imagination and the desire are there.”
Running about 25 minutes, “Anomaly” is a seven-movement work that grew out of a melodic idea Kotche worked out on the vibraphone. As usual with Kronos, Harrington, violinist John Sherba, violist Hank Dutt and cellist Jeffrey Zeigler will be playing much more than their own stringed instruments.
“I have them playing quite a few percussion instruments throughout,” said Kotche, whose base of operation onstage will be multiple percussion in the form of a drum set. “They’re playing these little African bull-roarer noisemakers at one point. John plays a Chinese cymbal, Hank plays a pop gun, I’ve got them playing chopsticks.”
Kronos commissioned “Anomaly” in honor of Angel Stoyanof, a San Francisco restaurateur and real estate executive, native of Istanbul and close friend of the quartet. Kotche, who also was thinking about a dear uncle who had recently died, perfectly captured Stoyanof’s zest for life.
“There’s a kind of optimism to the piece,” Harrington said. “Angel was always somebody who wanted to bring people together. He was very good at connecting people. And that’s something that Glenn captured in this piece, connecting everybody in the quartet with Glenn himself. We’re all doing things we never thought we could do or even imagine doing.”
Freelance writer Wynne Delacoma was the Sun-Times’ classical music critic from 1991 to 2006.