David Harrington founder of Kronos Quartet
A Grammy-awarded violinist, member of Kronos Quartet
In 1991 Kronos Quartet, the world-widely renowned chamber ensemble that specializes in contemporary classical music, premiered “Facing Death” by Louis Andriessen. The piece was inspired by be-bop, particularly by the music of Charlie Parker. It is challenging to the performers due to its extremely high tempo. It is so for a reason. To quote the composer: "Parker needed speed to express what he musically felt: little time was left for him".
When I first listened to Andriessen’s music – I think it was the “Workers Union” – it reminded me of the “In C” of Terry Riley if it had been written by Stravinsky. But it is not to say that his music is derivative – it is not. Louis found his own voice.
I remember visiting his home as he was working on “Facing Death”. He played it on the piano for me and I realized at that point that we were about to have a new piece – different from everything that we had played before.
Part of the preparation for this premiere was listening to Charlie Parker’s recordings. Bringing the inspiration of his manic energy and melodicism into our work and consciousness was really important. We did as much translating as we possibly could from Parker’s style to Andriessen’s style, to us playing “Facing Death”. The idea behind it was to present a string quartet as an art form in a way that had never been thought of before.
I found Andriessen extremely supportive of musicians. He came to one of our concerts in Netherlands a few years ago and it was fabulous to see him. I believe he is the real force in musical culture.