Kronos Quartet's "Cusp" Plays to Composer's Strengths

Kronos Quartet's latest Nonesuch release is the premiere recording of Terry Riley's The Cusp of Magic, with pipa virtuoso Wu Man. Dusted magazine's Kevin Macneil Brow credits the composer with having created an "enthralling work from a wide palette of diverse ideas and influences that might well have defeated a lesser composer." Brow goes on to praise the performers as well for their ability to "engage and interact in ways that combine earthy energy and celestial delight with an underlying sense of gravity and dignity."

What keeps Cusp's "diverse ideas" together, he writes, is "Riley's vision and integrity, his willingness and commitment to allow these ideas and voices their full expression." Also, the review concludes,

One should not underestimate the way Kronos plays to Riley's strengths---the vigorous colloquy of bold imagination, musical line and voice, the solid and purely present physicality that this music, although often metaphysical in mood and theme, ultimately asks for.

To read the complete review and listen to an excerpt of the album, visit dustedmagazine.com.

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