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Black Angels

Kronos Quartet (Performer) Format: Audio CD
4.4 out of 5 stars 57 ratings
$9.80
FREE International Returns
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Track Listings

1 Black Angels: I. Departure: 1. Threnody I: Night of the Electric Insects/2. Sounds of Bones & Flutes
2 Black Angels: II. Absence: 6. Pavana Lachrymae/7. Threnody...
3 Black Angels: III. Return: 10. God-music/11. Ancient Voices/12. Ancient...
4 Spem In Amium: 40-Part Motet
5 Doom. A Sigh
6 They Are There!: Fighting for the People's New Free World
7 Qt No.8: I. Largo
8 Qt No.8: II. Allegro molto
9 Qt No.8: III. Allegretto
10 Qt No.8: IV. Largo
11 Qt No.8: V. Largo

Editorial Reviews

Product description

No Description Available.
Genre: Classical Music
Media Format: Compact Disk
Rating:
Release Date: 3-JUL-1990

Amazon.com

The title to Kronos's most bleak album comes from a nearly 20- minute-long composition by American composer George Crumb that unfolds over 13 distinct parts. That ominous number only hints at the horror Crumb intended as an ode to the Vietnam War. War informs the whole CD: Shostakovich's Quartet No. 8, composed near the height of the Cold War, in 1960, was dedicated "to the victims of fascism and war." "Doom. A Sigh," by Istvan Marta, incorporates field recordings of two Romanian women singing personal laments of fallen friends and relatives; their grief is so intense as to render listening incredibly difficult. The original text to 16th-century composer Thomas Tallis's "Spem in Alium" (originally a 40-voice motet) recalled a biblical battle. And late American composer Charles Ives is heard singing (yes, singing) "They Are There!"--a ditty he wrote during the Great War and revisited for World War II; he's joined here by the Kronos, half a century after his death, in an act of studio magic that is ingenious if not musically stimulating. --Marc Weidenbaum

Product details

  • Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 4.94 x 0.45 inches; 2.88 ounces
  • Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ Nonesuch
  • SPARS Code ‏ : ‎ DDD
  • Date First Available ‏ : ‎ December 7, 2006
  • Label ‏ : ‎ Nonesuch
  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B000005J0D
  • Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1
  • Best Sellers Rank: #122,953 in CDs & Vinyl (See Top 100 in CDs & Vinyl)
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 out of 5 stars 57 ratings

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
57 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

  • Brian Donohue
    5.0 out of 5 stars Dark side of Kronos
    Reviewed in the United States on October 30, 2019
    Verified Purchase
    Another stunning gem from Kronos. The first cut, Crumb's Black Angels quartet, will raise every hair on your body. Don't make the mistake I made and pop it into the car player (I couldn't leave the parking lot until that first cut had finished). This is music that challenges and then rewards the listener. As usual with Kronos, flawless technique and marvelous imagination of interpretation.
    5 people found this helpful
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  • Richard J. Oravitz
    4.0 out of 5 stars Not for everyone...but deserves a listen.
    Reviewed in the United States on March 3, 2014
    BLACK ANGELS, weird, strange, but it's Crumb. Liked it.
    SPEM IN ALIUM, Tallis, nice, really enjoyed this, well done.
    DOOM. A SIGH, back to weird again, wailing, tragic, read Marta's notes. Interesting.
    THEY ARE THERE!...Ives would have approved.
    SHOSTAKOVICH QUARTET #8. Perhaps a little faster than what one's used to, but I loved it. Great sound, impressive.

    What you're getting here is a very nice collection of some strange sounds buffered by a couple more normal pieces. It makes for a really interesting and challenging listening session. This is, or could be, food for thought. I liked it, but I'm afraid that BLACK ANGELS may have a hard time becoming a popular release.

    Still, I urge you to purchase this on grounds that everyone should be subjected to contemporary pieces and historical masterworks at the same time and on the same level. Give it a try.
    With repeated plays, this can grow on you.
    4 people found this helpful
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  • Wyote
    5.0 out of 5 stars unspeakably awful: 5 stars
    Reviewed in the United States on April 12, 2008
    I am an amateur fan of classical music: I know enough to understand most of what people say when they talk about classical music, and enough to keep my mouth shut when that is going on.

    So, speaking as a relatively normal person -

    "Black Angels" is unspeakably awful.

    I love it.

    It is music in the sense that it is organized noise. There is melody, there is rhythm. And when I want to show my students how bad modern art music can be, this is what I play.

    Unless that's what you're looking for, you will initially regret buying this. But if you listen to it, you will come to appreciate this.

    Really, it's not that bad. No, it's even good. You can't expect to enjoy yourself (except perhaps ironically). This is not your great grandfather's string quartet. But listen to it. Pay attention. It makes sense. This is not supposed to be enjoyed. It's supposed to be heard and felt. Why must music make us feel good? This is a disturbing piece of music. And it's good.

    If you want a more lyrical Crumb, I enjoy George Crumb: Songs, Drones, and Refrains of Death. That is pretty much normal 20th century music. Nothing shocking like "Black Angels."

    Shostakovich's 8th string quartet is a big step in the direction of traditional music. It too is disturbing, but it is also beautiful. I have one other recording -Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 8 in C minor - which is rumored to be the best by people who are supposed to know, and at $7 one has to try it - but at the risk of offending the better informed, I must admit I prefer the Kronos version. They play it as well, as far as I can tell, and at least as movingly.

    The other pieces are interesting filler. I think they're fine bits of musical education. The Romanian women singing is a heartrending recording you will be happy to listen to occasionally, but you won't return to it over and over. Nor will the Ives piece make you run out and grab more, but it's curious.

    The most notable thing is Tallis' "Spem et Alium," which is originally a vocal work. You would not want to miss the original - the one I have is Tallis: Spem in alium; Missa Salve intemerata [Hybrid SACD] and though surely better recordings are available I don't know which to recommend - and I find it mildly interesting to hear it arranged for string quartet. If fact, I enjoy it more than the vocal original, but that probably means I haven't heard a good enough recording (let alone a live performance).

    All in all, once you've heard your Bach and Beethoven and Brahms and so on, it's time you heard your Shostakovich and Crumb. If that's you, brace yourself, and get this CD.

    (Gratuitous personal story. In college, I had huge speakers that had been given to my father by a radio station he worked for - you know when they do those outdoor things and they need huge speakers. Well, one night the guys upstairs were playing their music loudly, and my roommate was pissed off. So I put on "Black Angels," and we covered our ears until we were outside the building. About 3 minutes later we turned it off, and we never heard their music again. IOW, if you want to punish someone, play this really loud!)
    8 people found this helpful
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  • Riccardo James Vargiu
    5.0 out of 5 stars The perfect anthology.
    Reviewed in the United States on October 8, 2000
    Though Black Angels contains five very different pieces of music - three of which are bleak beyond despair, while the two remaining are confident and at times bluntly optimistic - these are cleverly alternated in such a way as to make listening to the album as a whole very enjoyable. Therefore, what strikes one immediately about this anthology is its structural balance - which enhances the Quartet's literally flawless performance.
    (1) George Crumb's Black Angels is an interesting tribute to the Vietnam war, which forces one to think about the nature and qualities of music, as well as of the awfulness of war. I have to say I'm not sure this composition can be rightfully considered "music" - not in accordance with the common sense of "music," at any rate. I find it closer to a superb and extremely refined sequence of sound effects, which is powerful enough to tell its story without the need for words, images, or even a traditional (i.e. harmonic/melodic) musical pattern. In some respects, it reminds me of Tan Dun's Ghost Opera, but the latter intertwines nerve jagging sound effects and melodic patterns in a way that is unknown to Black Angels. Nonetheless, Black Angels is an exceptional and innovative work of art.
    (2) Thomas Tallis's 16th century Spem in Alium is a beautiful piece of music, nicely juxtaposed to the preceding Black Angels. The title (which, literally, means "hope in something else") says it all, I guess: this music expresses hope in something stronger than ourselves and acceptance of life as it is, of life as perhaps someone wiser than ourselves wants it to be.
    (3) Doom. A Sigh by Istvan Marta is a heartbreaking 10 minutes of music, which can't leave one unchanged. What I like about this composition is its brechtian quality: it estranges one (with its unbearable laments) to the point one can't take it any more, and then - just then (after 5 full minutes of weeping) - the string quartet suddenly takes over the scene leading one to an emotional breakdown. "Balance," once again, seems to be the keyword.
    (4) They Are There! by Charles Ives suits its purpose perfectly: it helps one release the tension one has accumulated in listening to the previous piece, and prepares one for the next emotional and intellectual challenge.
    (5) Last but not least, Shostakovich's Quartet No. 8, dedicated to the victims of war and fascism... What can I say? Undeniably this is one of the most brilliant string quartets the 20th century has made humankind heir of: it is full of vibrant energy, of emotional baggage, and of intellectual demands. This piece is so meaningful it is hard for me to find the right words to express my thoughts... "The way things might have been, could have been, should have been, and never will be" is what it seems to talk about to me, but there's so much in this music, one has the feeling of being able to go on learning from it forever. What I can say for sure is that in performing Shostakovich's Quartet No. 8 Kronos lives up to standards and pushes them higher than ever.
    4 people found this helpful
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  • robert gault
    2.0 out of 5 stars Too much acid.
    Reviewed in the United States on April 5, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    I guess I did not research this album enough.I became aware of this band when they were backing Roky Erickson.I will check out another album because this is a mess.
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • Håkan Ljung
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 15, 2017
    Verified Purchase
    Great music.
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  • SM
    5.0 out of 5 stars Quel CHOC !
    Reviewed in France on July 24, 2019
    Verified Purchase
    Cet album a été enregistré par le Kronos Quartet en 1990 et bien que possédant déjà une quinzaine d'albums de ce formidable quartet, je ne l'avais jamais entendu. Je ne répéterai pas les analyses détaillées et argumentées que l'on peut lire sur le site d'Amazon pour les USA, en particulier celles de Vargiu Riccardo James et de David J. Huber. Je dirai uniquement : "QUEL CHOC !". L'ensemble de cet album est magnifique et absolument bouleversant. J'ai rarement entendu une musique exprimant autant la tristesse que "Doom.A Sigh" de Istvan Marta, écrite à partir d'enregistrements réalisés par lui en 1973 dans une communauté hongroise de Roumanie. Et cet album offre même un enregistrement du grand Charles Ives, chantant et jouant du piano en 1942.
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  • Andre Arnold
    5.0 out of 5 stars Some more Sighs...
    Reviewed in Germany on November 7, 2010
    Verified Purchase
    Das 1973 gegründete Kronos Quartet bemüht sich insbesondere um die Pflege zeitgenössischer Kammermusik. Mit ihrem Repertoire, das von Barockmusik bis hin zu Grenzgängen zwischen Klassik und anderen Musikrichtungen rangiert, sind die vier unerreicht. Etliche Musikstücke wurden eigens für dieses Ensemble komponiert oder arrangiert. Die vorliegende CD in bester Aufnahmequalität bietet einen gelungenen ersten Einblick in das Schaffen dieses bedeutenden Quartetts.

    Das konventionellste Stück dieser Sammlung ist ohne Frage Dmitri Shostakovichs (1906-1975) achtes Streichquartett in c moll op. 110. Es ist den Opfern des Faschismus' und des Zweiten Weltkrieges gewidmet und eröffnet mit einem zutiefst traurigen Largo. Wut und Verzweiflung verleiht der Russe im zweiten Satz Ausdruck, um schließlich einige Bilder des Leids zu imaginieren.
    Fordernd, flott und zwingend bietet das Kronos Quartet dieses verhältnismäßig häufig aufgeführte Stück dar. Mit straffer Akzentuierung und einfühlsamer Intensität entwerfen sie ein beklemmendes Schreckensgemälde des Zweiten Weltkrieges und übertreffen in ihrer Darbietung populärere Einspielungen mühelos.

    Aus dem Jahre 1970 stammt George Crumbs (*1970) Komposition für elektrisches Streichquartett "Black Angels - Thirteen Images from the Dark Land", das vom Vietnam Krieg inspiriert wurde. Das Werk ist in drei Teile geteilt, "Departure", "Absence" und "Return". Durchzogen wird das Stück durch eine schreiende, Angst einflößende Threnodie, die das Stück auch rahmt. "Devil Music", "Danse macabre" und eine Sarabande sind andere Bestandteile dieses intensiven Werkes, das den Hörer so schnell nicht mehr los lässt.
    Und das nicht zuletzt wegen der ausgezeichneten, technisch brillanten Darbietung des Kronos Quartets. Die elektrisierende Atmosphäre dieser Komposition stellen die Mitglieder in eindrucksvoller Art und Weise dar.

    Die 40stimmige Motette "Spem in alium" des barocken britischen Komponisten Thomas Tallis (ca. 1505-1585) liegt hier in einem entrückenden, tiefsinnigen und berührenden Arrangement für Streichquartett vor. Die Tiefschichtigkeit der Komposition transkribierte das Kronos Quartet selbst in meisterlicher Manier.
    Aus dem Jahre 1989 hingegen stammt das Werk "Doom. A Sigh" des ungarischen Komponisten Istvan Marta (*1952). Derselbe nahm in einem archaischen ungarischen Dorf zwei von den Einwohnern gesungene Lieder auf, deren herzzerreißender Unterton durch ein elektrisches Ensemble und die Stimmen des Streichquartetts untermalt werden. Da im Booklet die Entstehungsgeschichte der einzelnen Stücke näher erläutert ist, fühlt man sich beim Hören dieses Arrangements zutiefst gerührt.
    Das wohl interessanteste Werk dieser Anthologie ist das Arrangement von Charles Ives' (1874-1954) Klavierlied "They are there! - Fighting for the People's New Free World". Eine alte Aufnahme dieses Liedes wird durch das Kronos Quartet verstärkt, und das in derart dezenter Art und Weise, dass die Akteure ihre Verehrung für einen der bedeutendsten amerikanischen Komponisten treffend zum Ausdruck bringen.

    Fazit: Musik, die einen so schnell nicht mehr loskommen lässt - nicht nur für Freunde musikalischer Grenzgänge eine Bereicherung!
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  • Leon Dupasind
    4.0 out of 5 stars Alarm and unease
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 13, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    As a billionaire bigot who thinks climate change is a hoax enters the Whitehouse, this is the perfect soundtrack to the riots and accelerationism that will hopefully make people seriously doubt the sustainability of capitalism. Beautifully played by the Kronos Quartet, Black Angels embodies the alarm and unease of our plundering species, still locked into the idiocy of the capitalist project of "infinite growth" on a planet of finite resources.
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  • M. D. A. Duncan
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 13, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    Happy customer!
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