This album features the original version of "White Man Sleeps," written in 1982, and "Mbira" from 1980.
If you think landmark European 17th/18th century baroque instruments and African musical structures are irreconcilable opposites and you are open enough to change your mind, this is the album for you.
These pieces of Kevin Volans belong indeed to the most exciting developments in contemporary music.
"White Man Sleeps" features harpsichords and a viola da gamba in African tuning and conventional (non-African) percussion, and "Mbira" is played on percussion and harpsichord.
The latter also possesses a haunting bass line and should be played loud to be fully enjoyed.
The comparison of the original version of "White Man Sleeps" contained on this album with the one by the Kronos Quartet (on their albums White Man Sleeps and Pieces of Africa) yields that due to the unconventional combination of musical instruments and their tunings, the original version gets a much stranger and even obscure character.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Morango... Almost a TangoThomas Oboe Lee | Kronos Quartet | Play | 06:21 | 14 MB | 0 MB |
| 2 | Lonely WomanOrnette Coleman, Margo Guryan | Kronos Quartet | Play | 03:07 | 7 MB | 0 MB |
| 3 | White Man Sleeps #1 | Kronos Quartet | Play | 04:31 | 10 MB | 0 MB |
| 4 | Scherzo: Holding Your Own | Kronos Quartet | Play | 01:23 | 3 MB | 0 MB |
| 5 | Amazing Grace | Kronos Quartet | Play | 11:51 | 27 MB | 0 MB |
| 6 | White Man Sleeps #5 | Kronos Quartet | Play | 03:37 | 8 MB | 0 MB |
| 7 | String Quartet No. 3 | Kronos Quartet | Play | 15:30 | 35 MB | 0 MB |
| 46 mins | 106 MB | |||||
| 0 mins | 0 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hank Dutt | Viola |
| 2 | Carin Goldberg | Artwork, Design |
| 3 | Mel Graves | Arranger |
| 4 | David Harrington | Violin |
| 5 | Robert Hurwitz | Executive Producer |
| 6 | Joan Jeanrenaud | Cello |
| 7 | Kronos Quartet | Ensemble, Primary Artist |
| 8 | Bob Ludwig | Digital Remastering |
| 9 | John Newton | Composer, Engineer |
| 10 | Nicholas Nixon | Photography |
| 11 | John Sherba | Viola, Violin |
| 12 | Judith Sherman | Producer |
| 13 | Kevin Volans | Composer |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |