It's impossible to say which factor has contributed more to making the Kronos Quartet our preeminent new-music chamber ensemble: the group's effortless virtuosity or its insatiable hunger for fresh challenges. Taped in 1998 (thus reflecting the longstanding Kronos lineup that had held firm until cellist Joan Jeanrenaud departed for personal reasons after the group's 25th anniversary, to be replaced by the equally fine Jennifer Culp), Kronos Quartet: In Accord's many studio performances offer eloquent proof of the group's wide-ranging musicianship, which is equally at home in the cartoon zaniness of John Zorn, the dancing drones of Perotin's Viderunt Omnes, or the slowly unfolded anguish of Alfred Schnittke's Collected Songs. Regrettably, director Manfred Waffender not only throws in a number of irritating directorial flourishes, but he also films the proceedings primarily as a series of close-ups of the individual players, which frustrates attempts to view the interactions and unspoken communications that are the heart of chamber music. He mercifully calms down during the somber pieces, though remains at best merely a competent chronicler of the onstage action.
But from Hamza El Din's hypnotically churning "Escalay" to the sprightly excerpt from John Adams's "John's Book of Alleged Dances," from the medieval mysticism of Hildegard von Bingen to Harry Partch's muscular and vigorous exploration of an even more ancient music, there's a wealth of treasures for the ear. --Bruce Reid
