back to: Conversations
Sun Rings
Kronos Quartet
Thursday April 19,2002
Kimmel Center
Philadelphia, PA
Kronos Quartet
David Harrington, Violin
John Sherba, Violin
Hank Dutt, Viola
Jeffrey Zeigler, Cello
Part THREE
PCM: When did you become familiar with Wu Man and the pipa? (I let David know my history with the instrument)
David: I first heard Wu Man at the home of composer Zhou Long and Chin Lee in the 1992. They were playing a video tape of various performers and instruments when I heard Wu Man. I was blown away by her sound and instrument. I found out she lived in the United States, she had just moved here from China. I got her phone number and called her. Within a few months Zhou Long wrote a piece for Kronos and Wu Man. We put it together in Pittsburgh and gave the world premier in 1993 after that I liked the sound and the relationship we had with Wu Man and the overall effect of Wu Man and Kronos. She and I had a meeting in 1994 and we decided to work together, I think Tan Dung asked her to introduce him to me. I had known his music through his publisher Schirmer. So shortly after the beginning of 1994 he and I were in touch. He came out to San Francisco and he eventually began to write Ghost Opera that was the second piece we did. The third piece was written by Terry Riley.
PCM: I interviewed Wu Man last year for my web site. She talked about the piece with Terry Riley. She also mentioned that at the time when she first moved here from China she was thinking of going to computer school.
David: She told me that. (Laughs) Have you heard the album You Stole My Heart? It’s music by R.D. Burman. You should hear that. It was and is clear to me that the pipa has one of the largest vocabulary of sound that I've know especially in her hands. The pipa has taken on so many colors in this album. It’s music by the Indian film track composer. I chose twelve songs. Wu Man is in nine of them.
PCM: Can you tell me about the Morton Feldman Quartet #2 and what it’s like to perform a piece that is 5 ½ hours in length.
David: It’s interesting to think about the Feldman
David: It’s interesting to think about the Feldman Quartet #2. It’s something that I would invite every group
in the universe to try to play that piece. Then they would find out what it’s like to play that piece.(laughs) It’s excruciatingly painful to play that soft for that long and not be able to put your instrument or bow down. It’s exceedingly hard to do. Having said that I’ll never forget the few performances we did of the 2nd quartet. You go through all kinds of feeling and emotions. There were times when I was ready to ring Morton’s neck. (laughs) It’s like, how could he do this. And then at other times in the same hour of the performance you’re hearing this beautiful and subtle music and you’re feeling part of this web of sound and time that is truly exceptional and unlike most experiences. There are moments when you don’t think you’re gonna get through it. I can say that for sure, I have definitely felt that. I felt like parts of my back were literally gonna fall off. There is a lot that goes in that piece. There is something that happens with that kind duration that doesn’t happen in pieces of shorter duration.
PCM: Do you get hypnotized by the piece while playing it?
David: Yes! You can get hypnotized. Morton didn't mind if people got up and left and came back or fell asleep. For him it was a very large canvas that he invited people to take part of. We were the one’s that didn't get up leave and come back. In order to stay focused we traded around the responsibility of leading the group. For twenty pages I would lead then somebody else would take over. You had to do it that way or your mind would become mushrooms. (Laughs)
This is a story I haven’t told many times. You will be one of the few to hear it. After the premier in Toronto. We finished and we could almost stand up to take a bow. For anyone who knew Morton they knew he wasn't shy about accepting applause and he loved to be the center of attention. I motioned for him to get up to take a bow and he didn’t stand up. I was worried that maybe he didn’t like the performance I was worried hoping he’s OK. Later that night after the concert at a party I asked him if everything was OK. With his thick Brooklyn accent he answered, "You know David, I had to pee so bad I was afraid to stand up". I thought, OK this is my opportunity and I said, "Morton maybe it’s a good indication that the next time you write a piece for Kronos it should be shorter". And the next and final piece he wrote for us was a piano & string quarter that was a mere eighty minutes.
