"Visual Music," in its present form, as presented by the Kronos Quartet
tonight in Yerba Buena Center, is a stunning work of music theater.
Performed without a break, the 90-minute piece integrates the music of
10 contemporary composers with elaborate video and audio tools, and some
outstanding performance-art ideas.

Taking "Visual Music" apart, listing its components means to counteract
what makes it good, which is the smooth, seamless whole, not the individual
parts.  Perhaps if the Kronos - which has done everything else in its
31-year history - wrote the report, they could present the evening's
gestalt; I must fall back on the pedestrian linearity of list-making.

First, the names: the ever-surprisingly youthful quartet (just do the
math and see that they must be older than they appear) consists of
violinists David Harrington and John Sherba, violist Hank Dutt, and
cellist Jennifer Culp (with a star turn tonight).

On the program: Steve Reich's 1968 "Pendulum Music," John Zorn's 1988
"Cat O' Nine Tails (Tex Avery Directs the Marquis de Sade), three movements
from Scott Johnson's 1991-93 "How It Happens," Mark Grey's 2002 "Bertoia
I," Bernard Herrmann's 1950 "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (arranged
by Stephen Prutsman in 2002), Conlon Nancarrow's 1942 "Boogie Woogie
#3A," Krzysztof Penderecki's 1960 "Quartetto per archi," Terry Riley's
2002 "One Earth, One People," Mark Grey's 2002 "Bertoia II," and Sigur
Ros' 2000-02 "Flugufrelsarinn" ("The Fly Freer").  Yes, a list to gladden
the hearts of some, but also one to cause others to scream and holler
as they seek safety from exposure.

But here's the thing: the Kronos presentation appealed not only to the
faithful, but - potentially, in the absence of non-believers - to anyone
fond of music and theater.  Not all the program worked well - I could
have done without or with less of Reich's "Pendulum" of microphones
swinging between amplifiers, creating occasionally unpleasant feedback
- but there were some memorable highlights, along with "nice" bits.

Zorn's weird-and-wonderful piece - in the Kronos' committed and excellent
performance - was right up there with the best.  In just 15 dizzyingly
busy minutes, some 50 "musical moments" march by, ranging from lyrical
to gripping to ridiculous to awful noise that's instantly relieved by
charming harmonies.

Johnson's substantial music is used as a kind of background in "How
It Happens," with the late I.F.  Stone's voice up front, commenting on
Reagan, "the great theologian," wielding the nuclear threat, railing
against the enemy, Stone repeating the warning that "there is nothing
as unholy in human history as a holy war." It's uncanny how long ago
this timely statement was made.

Besides the visual pizzazz (such as Willie Williams' hypnotic sun-flare
film with Riley's piece), there were some "educational" production values,
such as Penderecki's score being projected on a screen, the four musicians
playing downstage (their backs to the audience), players and listeners
reading the music together.

The utterly complicated Nancarrow work had the Kronos on a platform
behind a scrim used for a pre-recorded video of the piece, but allowing
clear sight of the musicians as well.

Layers and layers of sound and sight were woven together expertly all
evening long, with imagination, perhaps more electronics than necessary,
but effectively and memorably so.

Janos Gereben/SF
www.sfcv.org
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