I am by no means a 'professional critic' - I listen with my heart and I write with my soul. I think 'critics' prefer ears and pens...
Anyways, last night I was amongst the lucky audience of the Kronos' concert in the Theatre de Sartrouville. The first 3 pieces were a very interesting example of contemporary classical music which, I find, I have to listen to several times over and over to relate to it emotionally after a while. This is the sort of music that takes its time to grow on me.
The 4th song seemed a technical challenge and I thought you ought to be the Kronos Quartet to play it that well. During the interlude its final theme, surprisingly, still echoed in my head. I didn't expect that.
What happened in the 2nd part of the concert was much more of an emotional experience for me. John Zorn is a great example of humour in classical music - I didn't laugh that much during a concert ever since I participated in a analysis of Vivaldi's 'Four Seasons'!
'A Thousand Thoughts' was so very Swedish and it did feel like actual thoughts! In the piece of Bryce Dessner I was wondering what the strings would say if only they could speak... It seemed like there were four monologues in that piece which all mounted to one in the end.
And that would have been it if it wasn't for the fact that Sartrouville didn't want to let the Quartet go yet. An unforgettable interpretation of Ramallah Underground's 'Tashweesh' followed and we almost let them go...
.... but not until they played Clint Mansell's 'Death is the Road to Awe'. Amongst the general euphoria and handkerchiefs I think the audience forgot to ask for more.
And so then we had a drink:)
