Somehow Randy got a little mixed up about tonight's performance,
and we parked outside Tresidder Student Union. This was convenient for
grabbing dinner (yummy sandwiches from the Coffeehouse), but not so great
when we walked across the plaza to Dinkelspiel and found that we were at
the wrong place. Fortunately, we weren't so late that a mad dash across
campus to Memorial Auditorium wouldn't save us, so we dashed, and got in
the door just moments before the show was to start.
Tonight's entertainment was the double-bill of the Kronos Quartet
with Taraf de Haidouks in Memorial Auditorium at Stanford. We have seen
Kronos several times over the past few years, and we saw Taraf de Haidouks
(or 'Band of Brigands' in translation) on the first 'Gypsy Caravan' tour
in 1999. The Chronicle had a nice article about the collaboration going
on between the two groups entitled Romanian
Artists Bring Out the Gypsy in Kronos Quartet teams with Taraf for Stanford
show.
Kronos opened the show. The program for their portion was:
Rahul dev Burman: Aaj Ki Raat (Tonight is the Night)
Aleksandra Vrebalov: Pannonia Boundless
Anibal Carmelo Troilo: Responso (Responsory)
Rezso Seress: Gloomy Sunday
Osvaldo Golijov: Doina
Steve Reich: Triple Quartet
The program notes for this part of the show are kind of odd. They start
off with sly comments about Kronos playing with a backing tape (of Zakir
Hussain) for the first piece, sort of the Milli Vanilli of avant-classical
if you will. Later on, the commentator makes a big deal about how Gloomy
Sunday
has a curious and compelling history of despair to it. In 1933,
the composer presented the tune to his ex-lover, hoping to entice her back;
her response was to take poison the next day. Over the next few years,
several other suicides were attributed to the tune, and it was banned and
unbanned several times by the BBC. Seress himself comitted suicide in 1968
(but the notes fail to mention whether or not he was listening to his 'little
suicide song' at the time). Reich's Triple Quartet turned out to be another
tape piece, as Kronos played live along with recordings of themselves performing
the two other quartet parts. Not quite what we were expecting, but interesting
nonetheless! And for a classical concert, the light show during Kronos
performance was most excellent!
Taraf de Haidouks came onstage after a short intermission. As you
might guess from the photos, these guys are gypsy peasants, and while they
might be rough around the edges, their music is fiery and full of fun.
The band members appeared to range in age from their 30's on up. The older
guys took awhile to warm up, but eventually they were dancing and jumping
about while the fiddlers buzzed away at triple-speed.
After about forty-five minutes, Kronos came out to play a few tunes
with Taraf de Haidouks, to the great delight of everyone in the audience.
Following the show, we stopped in Dohrmann Redwood Grove, just outside
the Art Gallery, to check out the big totem pole, which loomed menacingly
out of the darkness. We captured the eerieness of the moment in the photos.
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