COMPOSERS: Ali-Zadeh
LABELS: Nonesuch
ALBUM TITLE: Ali-Zadeh
WORKS: Oasis; Apsheron Quintet; Music for Piano; Mugam Sayagi
PERFORMER: Franghiz Ali-ZadehKronos Quartet
CATALOGUE NO: 7559-79804-3
The Kronos Quartet has always
presented new and recent music
in ways which make the repertoire
approachable without diluting it.
But the group rather has its work cut
out with this disc, which comprises a
selection of works by the Azerbaijani
composer and pianist Franghiz Ali-
Zadeh, who also contributes to the
recording as a performer.
Despite Ali-Zadeh’s works being
airily described as combining ideas
from Western composition with
traditional Azerbaijani music, this is
not cheesy exotica but sophisticated,
uncompromising stuff of the kind
that might seem more at home in the
repertoire of a hard-line group such
as the Arditti Quartet. While there’s a
fascination to many of the individual
elements – the scattershot pizzicati,
the yearning ethno-modernism of the
more lyrical passages – apprehending
this remarkable music in its entirety is
demanding if very rewarding. And yes,
it does seem odd to need to state this in
a review, yet so much recent music is
neither of the above.
The Quartet champions Ali-
Zadeh’s music and performs it with all
the conviction this implies. Sonically,
the strangely distant, detached feel of
the quieter passages is a slight letdown.
Roger Thomas