Winter Was Hard is a fairly typical early mélange type recording by Kronos, mixing in au courant contemporary fare with a downtown edge and 20th century classics.
Of the former, John Zorn's "Forbidden Fruit" (originally available on his album Spillane) is the standout composition, one of the very best pieces he ever wrote in this idiom.
Mixing the string quartet with turntablist Christian Marclay's wild thrashings and vocalist Ohta Hiromi's intensely erotic whisperings was an inspired move.
John Lurie's "Bella by Barlight" is appropriately noirish, while Astor Piazzolla, who had just been introduced to the American public via American Clave records, is ably represented by one of his down-and-dirty tangos.
Terry Riley and Arvo Part are less well-represented by works that wallow a bit much in tired minimalist and mystical areas respectively.
Alfred Schnittke's "Quartet No.
3" is a robust and romantic work, played with bravura by Kronos, though for sheer gorgeous romanticism, it's tough to outdo Barber's "Adagio," here rearranged for string quartet but losing little of its passion and beauty.
Winter Was Hard is worth hearing for its highlights, definitely so if the listener hasn't otherwise heard the Zorn piece.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A Door Is AjarAnonymous, Traditional | Kronos Quartet | Play | 00:39 | 1 MB | 0 MB |
| 2 | Fratres | Kronos Quartet | Play | 09:24 | 21 MB | 0 MB |
| 3 | Winter Was Hard | Kronos Quartet | Play | 01:45 | 4 MB | 0 MB |
| 4 | Half-Wolf Dances Mad in Moonlight | Kronos Quartet | Play | 08:22 | 19 MB | 0 MB |
| 5 | Six Bagatelles | Kronos Quartet | Play | 04:00 | 9 MB | 0 MB |
| 6 | Forbidden Fruit | Kronos Quartet | Play | 10:18 | 23 MB | 0 MB |
| 7 | Bella by Barlight | Kronos Quartet | Play | 02:49 | 6 MB | 0 MB |
| 8 | Four, for Tango | Kronos Quartet | Play | 03:59 | 9 MB | 0 MB |
| 9 | Adagio | Kronos Quartet | Play | 07:16 | 16 MB | 0 MB |
| 48 mins | 111 MB | |||||
| 0 mins | 0 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Elizabeth Appling | Director |
| 2 | Samuel Barber | Composer |
| 3 | B. Carpelan | Lyricist |
| 4 | Michele Clement | Photography |
| 5 | Hank Dutt | Viola |
| 6 | David Harrington | Violin |
| 7 | Ohta Hiromi | Voices |
| 8 | Robert Hurwitz | Executive Producer |
| 9 | Joan Jeanrenaud | Cello |
| 10 | Howard Johnston | Engineer |
| 11 | Kronos Quartet | Ensemble, Primary Artist, Producer |
| 12 | Bob Ludwig | Mastering |
| 13 | John Lurie | Composer |
| 14 | Christian Marclay | Turntables |
| 15 | Earl L. Miller | Reed Organ |
| 16 | John Newton | Engineer |
| 17 | Ohta Hiromi | Voices |
| 18 | Arvo Pärt | Composer |
| 19 | Astor Piazzolla | Composer |
| 20 | David Reck | Lyricist |
| 21 | Terry Riley | Composer |
| 22 | Aulis Sallinen | Composer |
| 23 | San Francisco Girls Chorus | Choir/Chorus |
| 24 | Alfred Schnittke | Composer |
| 25 | John Sherba | Violin |
| 26 | Judith Sherman | Producer |
| 27 | Traditional | Composer |
| 28 | Anton Webern | Composer |
| 29 | John Zorn | Composer, Producer |
| 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. |