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| Black Angels | 
 enlarge | Artists: George Crumb, Thomas Tallis, Istvan Marta, Charles Ives, Dmitry Shostakovich, Hank Dutt, David Harrington, Joan Jeanrenaud, John Sherba, Kronos Quartet
Label: Nonesuch
Category: Music
List Price: $16.98
Buy New: $4.78
You Save: $12.20 (72%)
Buy New/Used from $4.78
Avg. Customer Rating:  (20 reviews)
Sales Rank: 83228
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 79242
UPC: 075597924220
EAN: 0075597924220
ASIN: B000005J0D
Release Date: June 21, 1990
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 scary stuff March 3, 2005
3 out of 15 found this review helpful
I listened to this piece, Black Angels, and it definitely gave me the creeps. My wife begged me to take it off; I didn't, due to my morbid fascination. In retrospect, what was even creepier was the fact that I just spontaneously played it for the 1st and only time on the night of Sept. 10, 2001 . Coincidence? It's as if something inside of me had a premonition of the true horror of the following morning. Is this possible?
 Black Angels isn't enough to save it November 30, 2004
21 out of 42 found this review helpful
This is perhaps the single worst recording that I've heard all year in the chamber music genre. I love modern quartet music and avante garde in general, but this is a waste. Specifically:
Black Angels is the only piece that you'll return to time and time again. But there are cheaper ways to get the recording. Try "American String Quartets 1950-1970" on VoxBox by the Concord String Quartet. You'll get Black Angles as well as other modern string quartet music on two CDs for less than $11. And, the liner notes are detailed, not skimpy, like those with the Kronos release. Also the Black Angels recording is 20% longer so the rendition has more duende, as the Spanish would say.
Spem In Alium by Tallis was written almost 500 years ago and is out of place on this modern music CD.
Doom. A Sigh is a curiosity to hear, but just one time. After that, you'll just want to slap the singer so he'll stop his sniffling.
The Ives piece is terrible and fits right in with almost everything else.
The Shostakovich quartet is mediocre compared with the Borodin or Fitzwilliam Quartet versions. The Kronos Quartet doesn't know how to give the piece the soul that it needs. Besides, the Shostakovich Quartets are all masterpieces. Why wouldn't you want to own all 15 quartets done by the Borodin or Fitzwilliam Quartets?
The Kronos Quartet has recorded some great CDs--this isn't one of them. After Black Angels, the rest is filler, and, bad filler at that. I'm glad that I checked it out from the library first rather than taking a chance.
An amazing collection of music December 11, 2003
10 out of 13 found this review helpful
Of course, the real lead on this CD is Crumb's amazing "Black Angels", a piece that starts off with electric insects - wild string playing from above the bridge. Scary sound!! And of course Kronos, being the premiere string quartet for interpreting and playing modern music, NAILS the performance.All around, this CD is spot on excellent - performance is incredible and heartfelt and obviously the Koronos put a lot of time and effort thinking about their approach on these pieces. The recording quality is excellent considering the time it was recorded - this is a somewhat old CD, and, hey, recordings are better now, but this is still a phenomenal bit of engineering. And the selction of music - Crumb and Ives and Shostakovitch. And the beautiful interpretation of Tallis "Spem in Alium". This is, like most of kronos' CDs, a remarkable collection of remarkable music, performed at their always incredible level of perfection. This is a great intro to the Kronos Quartet, if you've never listened to them. It is also a great introduction to some of the wildest and most interesting of 20th Century "serious music". I've owned this CD for years, and often come back to it. I'm buying it again this year to give my nephew, who request the string quartet version of Tool's music. I think perhaps he's ready to find out how exhilirating and exciting the world of "serious music" can be. Electric Insects, meet Tool.
stunning anti-war string quartets November 16, 2003
23 out of 24 found this review helpful
"Black Angels," the amazing string quartet written by George Crumb in 1970 in response to the Vietnam War, is what inspired the formation of the Kronos Quartet. They set it to disc in 1990, and unfortunately it has remained a timely testament to the ongoing terror and tragedy of war. According to Crumb, "[t]he work portrays a voyage of the soul. The three stages of this voyage are Departure (fall from grace), Absence (spiritual annihilation) and Return (redemption)." It is a resolutely modern work, not the sort of thing Haydn would ever have expected. The opening is called "Night of the Electric Insects," and that gives you an idea. Absolutely brilliant "Black Angels" is 18 minutes long, and opens the disc, and Shostakovich's 8th quartet, at 20 minutes, is the closer. Kronos gives a hard-edged reading of the famous piece, dedicated to "the victims of war and fascism." It is strongest in the louder, faster sections, and not quite as effective in the slower sections, where the Borodin Quartet conveys more feeling, more poignancy (see my review of their 1990 recording of DSCH quartets 2/3/7/8 & 10). A fine performance, though, of a 20th century classic. Unfortunately I don't have much good to say about the three shorter pieces in between. I've listened to this disc many times now, and I am just not won over by the Tallis, Marta or Ives. It's fun to hear a hoarse Charlie Ives shouting and ranting about the soldiers "Fighting for the People's New Free World," but it reminds you that he was probably a manic-depressive, and you want to tell him to take his medicine. Other than checking in now and then to see if these 3 have grown on me, I typically play either "Black Angels" or the 8th as stand-alone works, and so the 4 stars reflects the fact that the disc as a whole is less than satisfying.
Deeply Engrossing & Unsettling but has its flaws January 28, 2003
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
I'll put my cards on the table and admit that my knowledge of Classical music is virtually non-existant. I am however broading my horizons and starting to include more and more avant-garde and experimental music in my vigourous music appreciation. Unlike many of the other reviewers who have known about Kronos since the started, I heard about them from their magnificent performance on the 'Requiem For A Dream Score'. This isn't really a review of the Kronos Quartet's performance, but the music itself. Although I don't listen to much classical, I am rather fond of the more sinister Shostakovich symphonies. The inclusion of his 8th symphony was a great choice. Kronos deliver a slightly different take on it and increase the tempo. Although many don't like this version, I feel an increased tempo adds to its energy and delivers the message more powerfully. I think its brave of them to toy with such a classic and I would not be happy if they had just repeated the original. The Charles Ives piece is unlike anything i've got recorded. Some great lyrics and vocal delivery (almost comic yet deeply credible), matched with some chaos Piano, off-kilter strings and background static. It makes for a great track. I only wish the vocals where slightly more powerful and 'shouty-er'. The Thomas Tallis piece is fairly bog-standard in the world of dark and emotive classical but it still delivers and you can't help but be satisfied with it. Istvan Marta's piece is deeply unsettling. Musically its fragmented and stop/start. This doesn't add anyhting special to the darkness of the atmosphere but at the same time it doesn't detract. The vocals are unsettling however, they are quite high-pitched and sound like they've been drained of life. Soon it becomes empty and most will tend to skip this track, as after a while it gets boring. I think on the 1st and 2nd time of listening it hits you and then you build up resistance. The track i had least connection with however was the title track. Its deeply experimental and incorporates voice snippets and extensive use of amplifiers. It again is massivly fragmented and I feel this detracts from the overall darkness as there is no real build up of tension. The stop/start violin seems powerful to some, but I feel it sounds too premature and quick to add upto anything really dark. I do have to point out though that to get the most out of it, it requires extensive 'captive' listening and to dismiss it on first listen is ignorant.
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