This year, the famous American quartet KRONOS is celebrating its 50th anniversary. In 1973, the remarkable violinist David Harrington organized a new ensemble in San Francisco, which subsequently glorified the American performing arts in the field of quartet music throughout the world. Today KRONOS is the winner of several Grammy, Polaris and German Echo awards, Day.Az reports.
⠀
It is gratifying that for 30 years this group has been collaborating with the famous Azerbaijani composer Frangiz Alizade, invariably including her works in their numerous tours. At the request of KRONOS, in 1993, F. Alizadeh composed the work “Muğam Sayağı”, which broke all records in terms of frequency of performance by many quartets of the world – from the USA to Singapore. Recall that in 2008, at the ceremony of awarding F. Alizadeh with the title of UNESCO “Artist for Peace”, the Tang quartet from Singapore was specially invited to Paris from Singapore, which performed “Mugam Sayağı” for the guests of the ceremony with great success.
⠀
And in 2015, a solemn presentation of an entire CD album by the American company Nonesuch performed by the KRONOS quartet, consisting entirely of works by Frangiz Alizade, took place at the London Barbican Hall. This included, in addition to “Muğam Sayağı”, “Oasis”, “Music for Piano” (performed by the author), as well as the “Absheron” quintet.
The paths of Frangiz Alizadeh with KRONOS have crossed many times on different continents: in the New York Carnegy Hall, in the Tokyo Santory Hall, at the Istanbul International Music Festival, in the Geneva Congress Hall, etc.
⠀
This time a significant meeting took place in Berlin at the anniversary celebrations of the quartet in the most prestigious concert hall – Pierre Boulez Saal. The anniversary of the KRONOS quartet was widely celebrated during the week in the capital of Germany: numerous workshops were held here, the presentation of “50 for Future”, within which “Dance” by Frangiz Alizade, recognized as the most successful work of the project, was repeatedly performed, a concert at Pierre Boulez Saal, as well as the Day open doors so-called Open House.
⠀
Undoubtedly, the culmination of all the anniversary events was the fantastic KRONOS concert at the Pierre Boulez Saal, tickets for which were sold out a month before the event on May 20th. Located in the heart of the cultural capital of Europe, this hall is now a benchmark in preserving the best traditions of the musical avant-garde. No wonder he was named after the legendary master of modern music – an outstanding composer and conductor – Pierre Boulez.
⠀
Presenting the work of Frangiz Alizade “Muğam Sayağı” to the public, the leader of the quartet, David Harrington, said: “We are proud and happy that for many years our author is the brilliant composer Frangiz Alizade. Often, modern music, reflecting the intense events of the life around us, loses its attractiveness and beauty. In In this sense, the work of Frangiz is a unique, rare example of true beauty and spirituality. This is a real island in which we find rest and consolation for ourselves and our listeners. Thank You for this, dear Frangiz! “.
⠀
After the performance of Frangiz Alizade’s music, applause did not stop for a long time, under which the author was called to the stage.
N. Gasimova
