The Kronos Quartet Concert at Modlin Center this Friday has been years in the making. The performance is a continuation of a collaboration started with Peni Candra Rini’s 2020 “Maduswara,” commissioned for the quartet’s epochal 50 for the Future project. A lovely piece, originally arranged for a quartet alone, the music took on transcendent power when they performed it together.
“It was one of the compositions for my [doctoral] dissertation,” Candra Rini says.
She sent them the recording (now posted on the Kronos website) while arranger Jacob Garchik reinterpreted the music from gamelan to string quartet form. “I saw that they played it many times,” she adds.
The opportunity to perform together came during her six-month Fulbright program residency at the University of Richmond. The Kronos Quartet invited her to play with them at Carnegie Hall. Because Candra Rini’s original vocals had become [Kronos founder] transposed with David Harrington’s violin, she found new, interweaving melodic lines, accompanying herself. After they played the piece, still in the middle of the concert, they got a standing ovation.
“I think that is rare for New York,” she says.
For his part, Harrington sounds eager to perform with Candra Rini again.
“I’m really looking forward to this,” he says. “Every time we’ve done anything with Peni it has been so beautiful. I just want the world of musicians to know about her, and how she sounds with us.”
For the past half-century, Kronos has been at the forefront of adventurous string music. Rather than concentrating on the traditional classical repertoire, it has championed a who’s who of modern composers across genres and continents. The first half of the University of Richmond concert will be a sampling, starting with jazz legend Sun Ra’s “Outer Spaceways Incorporated,” then [Serbian-American composer] Aleksandra Vrebalov’s “Gold Came From Space,” and [minimalist American composer] Terry Riley’s “Cadenza on the Night Plain.”
The second half will be all Candra Rini, first “Maduswara” [in which Candra Rini calls attention to the evolving challenges of the female Javanese singer] and then a new piece commissioned by Kronos, “Segara Gunung” [an epic four-part work that confronts the impact of climate change on the nation’s mountains and seas, per Kronos’ description].
The fact that Candra Rini is increasingly recognized on the world stage should be no surprise for local audiences that have seen her multivarious performances over the past few years. She encompasses an astounding range of style, from traditional Balinese/Javanese gamelan to gentle, guitar-tinged Portuguese-influenced folk fusion, to joyous, hard rocking, wild vocal gigs with some of the RVA’s top experimental musicians. Ethnomusicologist and University of Richmond Department of Music Chair Andy McGraw is a vital collaborator. McGraw has performed with her everywhere from major festivals like Big Ears in Knoxville and the Edinburgh International Festival to small DIY spaces. Across this wide spectrum of settings, her protean work has an astounding balance of power, control, and transparent emotional honesty.
The intersection of talents comes at a crucial time for the Kronos Quartet. The lineup was stable for decades, but, with the exception of Harrington, all the players have turned over in the last few years. The current quartet—violinist Gabriela Diaz, violist Ayane Kozasa, and Paul Wiancko—is an invigorating generational change.
“Our music feels alive and fresh,” Harrington says. “And we are having the best time I can recall.”
What should audiences expect?
“I am always looking for musical experiences that teach me more about the world, and point directions for the future,” Harrington says. “I think this concert will be one of those experiences. I know music just seems to fall out of the air and lands where it needs to be, but it takes a lot of work, thousands of hours, thousands of conversations, and a whole community of people. I think that people will notice that if they check out this show. I hope we will arrive somewhere surprising, beautiful, and energizing. And we are going to have a great time.”
Anyone who has seen Candra Rini in one of her many performances in intimate local spaces will need no encouragement to see her teamed with the global artists with whom she has already played in Paris, London and New York. This city has been fortunate to have her here for a time before, if there is any justice, the wider world discovers her.
Kronos Quartet with Peni Candra Reni play the Modlin Center’s Camp Concert Hall at the University of Richmond on Friday, March 21 at 7:30. Tickets are $18-40.
