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You are here: Home Kevin Volans: String Quartets/Duke Qt

Kevin Volans: String Quartets/Duke Qt

Review by: ClassicsToday
If South African composer Kevin Volans name is familiar, its
probably due to the tremendous success of the 1992 Kronos
Quartet recording called Pieces of Africa, on which 1982s
White Man Sleeps, Volans first quartet, appears. Its an
appealing hybrid of African and European modalities, rhythms,
and colors, presented as a series of dances that incorporates
elements of Basotho, Nyungwe, and San music.
There are significant differences between the Duke Quartets
interpretation and that earlier recording: the Duke players inject
Volans music with a distinct and sharp emphasis on rhythm,
Artistic Quality: 8
which arguably is the first priority of sub-Saharan music. That
character is immediately noticeable from the first of the
Sound Quality: 9
quartets five dances, which the players urge on with a much
greater sense of forward propulsion than achieved by the
Kronos Quartet. That same emphasis emerges in the third dance, whose pizzicatos are modeled after
animal gaits, and in the last movement, in which bowing accents zing like arrows through the score.
By way of contrast, the second and fourth movements (which are based on the same material,
inspired by Nyanga panpipe music) are a celebration of harmony, and the Dukes relaxed, expansive
style makes the unusual sonorities glow. While the Kronos version might be the benchmark due to its
long-term, high-profile association with this piece, the Dukes fresh, bold reading is a very welcome
addition.
1987s Hunting: Gathering (Volans second quartet) is something of a continuation of his first foray.
Again, we hear an emphasis on rhythm as well as material based on African traditional music (from
the Hamar people of south Ethiopia and Zimbabwean mbira thumb-piano music from the Shona
heritage, among other sources). But unlike the dance-suite format of the earlier work, this quartet has
a fragmented quality that evokes the disoriented, scattered feeling of images from a barely
remembered dream. Here again, the Duke players attention to crisp detail makes the work really sing
out, especially in the first movement where the forceful voice of violist John Metcalfe takes the lead
and the other players gently respond to his confident overtures.
Ironically, in light of his earlier successes, Volans has completely rejected his previous fusion
attempts as artifacts of a specific place and time: To me, he explains, the moment for this kind of
work has passed, along with the apartheid State. 2000s String Quartet No. 6 evidences that change
in approach: here, Volans attempts to echo the starkness and stillness of a blank white canvas
(eliminating subject matter in my music as far as possible). The piece, which actually is for quartet
and tape or two string quartets, is a nearly half-hour-long meditation on slowly sounded chords.
Particularly in this work listeners will appreciate the discs rich, full sound, which accentuates the
musics near-hypnotic effect.

BUY NOW FROM ARKIV MUSIC

Recording Details:
Reference Recording: White Man Sleeps/Kronos Qt. (Nonesuch)
KEVIN VOLANS - String Quartet No. 2 (Hunting:
Gathering); String Quartet No. 6; String Quartet
No. 1 (White Man Sleeps)

Duke Quartet
Black Box

- 1069

CD

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