SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
One of the great delights of working at NPR, aside from B.J. Leiderman doing our theme music, is that you can leave your desk and enjoy a Tiny Desk concert on the fourth floor. You get to hear some of the world's great musicians, including the Kronos Quartet. The band may have three new members, but its desire to push musical boundaries is as passionate as ever.
(SOUNDBITE OF KRONOS QUARTET PERFORMANCE OF NICOLE LIZEE'S "ANOTHER LIVING SOUL")
SIMON: An extraordinary concert. It's so great to be back here at the actual Tiny Desk with the four members of the Kronos Quartet - David Harrington and Gabriela Diaz on violin, Ayane Kozasa on viola and Paul Wiancko on cello. Thanks so much, all of you, for joining us after such a great performance. David, look, you founded this quartet more than 50 years ago. How do you keep a human and creative enterprise going for 50 years?
DAVID HARRINGTON: You know, you can't do anything by yourself. There's been hundreds of composers. There have been a lot of friends, family. It's been a way of life. And now that we have Paul and Ayane and Gabriela, for me, it feels like I'm being lifted up every minute of every rehearsal and every concert. And it - I don't know what I'm going to do with myself if I get any more energy than I have right now.
SIMON: Aw.
(LAUGHTER)
HARRINGTON: So it's a great time for music. And for me, personally, it's fabulous.
SIMON: Wow. So when the lineup changes, does the sound change?
HARRINGTON: Yes.
SIMON: And that's part of staying around, being alive.
HARRINGTON: Yeah. What I love is how each member of this group works with their sound to make it work with my sound. And so it's this beautiful conversation and development of our skills.
(SOUNDBITE OF KRONOS QUARTET PERFORMANCE OF NICOLE LIZEE'S "ANOTHER LIVING SOUL")
SIMON: Let me turn to Gabriela. This is a piece with a lot of sound in it.
GABRIELA DIAZ: Oh, yeah.
SIMON: I mean, with all due regard, it's not just your beautifully played instruments, but, I mean, you're tapping with your feet on bells. There are these groan tubes - I guess they're called. There are other sounds.
(SOUNDBITE OF WHIRLY TUBES PLAYING)
DIAZ: Yes. Yeah, in fact, Nicole Lizee's piece "Another Living Soul" starts with David and Paul playing whirly tubes, whirling these neon plastic tubes in the air...
SIMON: Yeah.
DIAZ: ...That make the most amazing and wild sound, and soon it becomes then a duet with, like, violin and whirly tube, which I'm pretty sure doesn't exist anywhere else in the musical canon (laughter), that kind of duet.
(SOUNDBITE OF KRONOS QUARTET PERFORMANCE OF NICOLE LIZEE'S "ANOTHER LIVING SOUL")
SIMON: I saw you guys playing the whirly tube, and I said to myself, finally, I have a chance to make it to Carnegie Hall.
(LAUGHTER)
DIAZ: Exactly. Come on in.
HARRINGTON: You'll have to tune yours, however. Those are specially...
DIAZ: That's true. They're...
HARRINGTON: ...Tuned.
DIAZ: They have to be certain pitches, so it's all...
SIMON: Oh. Forget me.
DIAZ: ...All carefully...
SIMON: Yeah.
(LAUGHTER)
HARRINGTON: It's OK.
DIAZ: Yeah. As whimsical and creative as Nicole is in her music, it's as actually also incredibly specific. And she's just the most creative and fun force. And, like, seeing her play around with all of these different kinds of toys and electronic instruments that make the wildest sounds.
(SOUNDBITE OF GROAN TUBE)
DIAZ: And then - (laughter).
(SOUNDBITE OF PULSATING GROAN TUBE)
DIAZ: Yes. Groan tube cadenza. And then being able to incorporate that so beautifully into this piece of music for four, sort of, like, antique string instruments is such an incredible gift of hers.
(SOUNDBITE OF KRONOS QUARTET PERFORMANCE OF NICOLE LIZEE'S "ANOTHER LIVING SOUL")
SIMON: Paul, let me turn to you now because one of the songs you performed for the Tiny Desk concert here was Neil Young's "Ohio." This was a song that came out at 1970 after the shootings at Kent State. Four students were killed by members of the Ohio National Guard during a protest to the war in Vietnam. Why did you want to perform that song now?
PAUL WIANCKO: You know, it's something I've loved about Kronos since I was a little kid, was just how relevant Kronos is and always has been and how reactive to what's happening in society Kronos has been. And so to join - I've been wanting to take part in that as much as possible in my own musical life. And it's - it can be challenging to find meaningful ways to actually address issues through music, even though so many of us are trying.
In my mind, "Ohio" is - you know, it served such a specific purpose in 1970, and, of course, in so many times in history since then. And it made perfect sense for us to play it. I was arranging it during a time when peaceful protesters were being hauled away by the police.
(SOUNDBITE OF KRONOS QUARTET PERFORMANCE OF NEIL YOUNG'S "OHIO")
SIMON: Ayane, where did you first hear Kronos Quartet?
AYANE KOZASA: I believe the first time was on "Sesame Street."
SIMON: That's what I've been told. It's true.
KOZASA: Yeah. Just sitting in front of the TV as a kid, and they came on, and they were with Big Bird. And Big Bird was like, whatcha doing?
(LAUGHTER)
KOZASA: And they're like, we're the Kronos Quartet. It was just - like, at that point, I didn't know if I was going be playing in a chamber music orchestra or anything like that. But the fact that at the time, I was playing violin...
SIMON: Yeah.
KOZASA: ...And, like, a violin was on TV, on my favorite show...
SIMON: Aw.
KOZASA: ...Was like, (imitating explosion sound) mind-blowing to me.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "SESAME STREET: SEASON 19, EPISODE 2420")
CAROLL SPINNEY: (As Big Bird) Whatcha doing?
KRONOS QUARTET: We're going to practice here. We're the Kronos Quartet.
HARRINGTON: This is the first time I've told this publicly.
DIAZ: (Laughter).
KOZASA: Uh-oh.
WIANCKO: Uh-oh.
HARRINGTON: OK. Uh-oh. Watch out. I promised my kids that I would come home with a tail feather from Big Bird.
SIMON: Oh. You brute, you.
(LAUGHTER)
WIANCKO: Yes.
SIMON: So you, like, scraped a handful of Big Bird's...
WIANCKO: Not a handful. There was one...
KOZASA: (Laughter).
WIANCKO: ...That was in the corner, and I plucked it. I had to go behind Big Bird and just (imitating a pluck sound). And my daughter still has her Big Bird feather to this day.
SIMON: Oh, my word. Nina Totenberg was just here to listen to you. I've got to ask her if the statute of limitations...
(LAUGHTER)
SIMON: ...Has run out on that crime because...
(LAUGHTER)
SIMON: I mean, we might have really...
HARRINGTON: Please ask her.
SIMON: ...Stepped into something here, you know?
(LAUGHTER)
SIMON: I want to ask you about another song you performed - "Strange Fruit" - an extraordinary song with extraordinary history. Abel Meeropol was, I believe, a high school teacher in New York when he wrote this song. This is known as a Billie Holiday track. Why did you decide you wanted to play this song?
HARRINGTON: For me, there's something in the sound of Billie Holiday's performance that I felt Kronos needed to attempt to make. And I've been listening to Billie Holiday's performances of that song since I was a kid. And at a certain point, I realized, I need to try to sound like Billie Holiday. I would be a better musician if I could do that.
You know, I think it's good for musicians to learn from each other. And there are so many wonderful musicians that we can benefit from listening very carefully to and try to incorporate what they have given all of us into our own lives and our own abilities.
(SOUNDBITE OF KRONOS QUARTET PERFORMING ABE MEEROPOL'S "STRANGE FRUIT")
WIANCKO: I think one thing that we've been trying to incorporate more into our work is how music can help other people's difficult-to-stomach messages reach more people.
(SOUNDBITE OF KRONOS QUARTET PERFORMING ABE MEEROPOL'S "STRANGE FRUIT")
SIMON: Let me ask you, David, about a piece you - I gather - arranged that was written for Kronos - last piece we heard here today, "Rain"...
(SOUNDBITE OF FROG CROAKING)
SIMON: ...By an Indonesian composer.
HARRINGTON: Yes. Peni Candra Rini. Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF KRONOS QUARTET'S PERFORMANCE OF PENI CANDRA RINI'S "RAIN")
HARRINGTON: I didn't have any choice. As soon as I heard her, I had to be in touch. I had to find a way that somehow Kronos could perform with her.
SIMON: "Rain" is a song about rain in the forest, in the jungle.
HARRINGTON: So there's flooding, but then there's also drought. And so, that piece, "Hujan," has this kind of up sound, this beautiful sound. And as you notice - and also, like, for example, with "Strange Fruit" - there's this amazing beauty, and you scratch below the surface, and there are essences that are amazing. But I think we're always looking for something that's beautiful that we can give to our friends, our family, our audiences.
SIMON: One thing I noticed about "Rain" - it begins with the sound of frogs.
HARRINGTON: We added that.
(LAUGHTER)
SIMON: You are - well, here you have little toys.
HARRINGTON: Here we had Tiny Desk frogs. Yes.
SIMON: But maybe I'm just interpreting this too much. I noticed that you begin with the frogs. And then the frogs persist. The frogs abide. This piece ends with the sound of frogs. I felt uplifted.
HARRINGTON: Frogs, as you know, are an indicator species, that if we're treating the environment correctly, frogs will flourish. If we're not, they're going to die.
SIMON: Yeah.
HARRINGTON: And it's pretty simple.
(SOUNDBITE OF KRONOS QUARTET'S PERFORMANCE OF PENI CANDRA RINI'S "RAIN")
SIMON: I can't thank you enough, Kronos Quartet - David Harrington, Gabriela Diaz, Ayane Kozasa, Paul Wiancko and everybody. You can all check out their Tiny Desk Concert. It's now on npr.org.
(SOUNDBITE OF FROGS CROAKING)
SIMON: Thanks so much for being with us.
WIANCKO: Thank you.
HARRINGTON: Our pleasure.
KOZASA: Thank you.
DIAZ: Thanks so much.
(SOUNDBITE OF KRONOS QUARTET PERFORMANCE OF NEIL YOUNG'S "OHIO") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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