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KRONOS QUARTET with KIMMO POHJONEN KLUSTER
"Uniko"
Helsinki Festival, September 4 & 5, 2004
Review
The partnership of Kimmo Pohjonen and Kronos
takes us on a journey of healing
Plants are hybridized in order to develop varieties
with more strength or good characteristics.
The same thing applies to music, where we can hybridize varieties that
are even more different than those in the plant world. The combination
produces exciting results. The experience was shivering when Kimmo
Pohjonen, who has taken the accordion to new
dimensions, and his Kluster-partner Samuli
Kosminen, who has done the same for percussion,
joined forces with Kronos, the revolutionary American string-quartet.
It was the first public performance of the partnership in Helsinki.
Apparently the first night had gone remarkably well for a premiére.
For my part, I was utterly enthralled at the second performance on Sunday,
as was the whole packed house in the Huvila Tent. Nobody talked or even
coughed during the performance. Uniko (composed by the Kluster duo for
Kronos at the request of the Americans) proved to be exactly the kind
of spiritual purification ritual we need now when we all are stressed
by world events that won't spare even children.
Kronos first performed alone, offering us three new compositions that
fitted well with the main work of the evening. They showed that even if
the search for innovation is an 'obsession' for Kronos, it's not that
at the expense of substance. Superficial slickness was conspicuous by
its absence.
The performance of Pannonia Boundless, a work by the Hungarian composer
Aleksandra Vrebalov,
was simple and natural. The effect was down-to-earth, bringing to mind
Hungarian plains and the Balkans. Flugufrelsarinn, a composition by the
Icelandic rock-band Sigur Rós, was given light electronic spice.
Its blues-tinged arrangement and the way the notes were stretched reminded
me of Hendrix at his most lyrical. CampoSanto, a work by the Chilean composer
Felipe Pérez Santiago, foreshadowed
the main ritual of the evening, with its abundant sampling and mix of
modern avant-garde with tribal inspiration..
However, after the interval Uniko took us deeper. The first thing that
struck me was that there didn't seem to be two bands on the stage, but
rather a single unified team. Every member was working in total harmony,
and with the same stunning intensity. The second aspect that blazed forth
was Pohjonen's melodic development, drawing inspiration from a world of
folk musics. The familiar hypnotic effect was counterbalanced by the heart-rending
beauty of the swelling themes, which bubbled out of this darkly foreboding
work with renewed imagination.
The string-playing was powerful and expressive, while Kosminen manipulated
the sound with both pre-sampling and live-sampling. He did not resort
to neurotic gimmickry; rather supporting the essential features of the
music with a refined grasp of style. To top things off, Heikki
Iso-Ahola's mixing moved the sounds round
the performance-space raising the end-result to the highest level of excellence.
In a performance lasting 70 minutes we heard six sections out of the eight
that comprise Uniko. Section 7 was given as an encore. Despite not being
the final section, its majestic, liberating luminosity provided a brilliant
finale to a dark-toned journey. An unforgettable experience!
Review by: JUSSI NIEMI / originally published in Aamulehti
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