Ever since he can remember he has had an insatiable thirst for new music. Alex Vella Gregory speaks to David Harrington, violinist with the Kronos Quartet, about music, coffee and catacombs.
Before I got in touch with David Harrington, his communications manager sent me the Kronos Quartet’s touring schedule for the coming months. I did a double-take when I saw it. Suddenly, the idea of waking him up at 8 a.m. on a Saturday morning for a phone interview did not seem that appealing.
Thankfully, the voice at the other end of the line was bright and cheery. Given that he has worked with Kronos for over 38 years, I cannot resist asking what keeps him going.
“The community that surrounds us is what keeps us going. There is a wonderful team of creative people around us; not just composers and guest artists, but everyone who supports us.”
A few seconds later, he also admits to another energy boost: coffee. Over the 38 years of working with Kronos he has adapted himself to the tough schedules, the long hours of travelling, and the jetlag.
“Being an artist is like being an athlete, you have to take care of body, mind and spirit.” So, the coffee helps the body, the support of others helps the mind, but what of the spirit?
The spirit is none other than music, and not just any music. He has a passion for everything that is new; the next piece, the next step. For him, performing new music is what feels natural, whereas performing Mozart, Dvorak and Tchaikovsky is what feels ‘unnatural’. There is a lot of information in music which needs to be known and understood, but also shared.
“In order to play I need to share, or I wouldn’t feel truthful or musical.”
Such a statement is crucial to understanding the Kronos Quartet’s work and ethos. They have had more than 750 new pieces written for them, and have worked with some of the biggest composers of the last decades. These include Lutoslawski, Arvo Pärt, and Wolfgang Rihm.
This direct involvement with the composers is what gives the quartet its characteristic sound. They have a direct knowledge of the composer not only as an artist, but as a human being.
“We not only know their music, but the sound of their voice, their sense of humour, and their stories.”
They also do not discriminate when it comes to different genres. Harrington has a big problem separating genres. ‘Our aim is to bring things together and not separate. Whatever genre you can think of, we have probably played it. We want to absorb boundaries, not create them.”
It is no surprise that such ground-breaking work has earned them several prizes and nominations. The two most important (and for Harrington most surprising ones) have been the Avery Fisher Prize and the Polar Prize earlier this year.
“These prizes were completely unexpected for us, and given the legendary names that have been awarded these prizes, it is a great honour for us. It also provides a moment for us to reflect on our future.”
But prizes also offer more than that. They offer financial awards which allow the quartet to pursue other work besides touring. Such work includes recording sessions. Harrington sees recording as a way of reaching out to even more people across the globe.
“Some of my happiest times have been in recording studios. Recordings allow us to do things which we cannot do when playing live, discover new effects and ideas.”
It is this, Harrington insists, that should encourage people to come and listen to their recital in Malta. It certainly looks like an exciting, if unfamiliar, programme. There is music by contemporary composers from all over the globe, music which goes from the pleasurable to the profound, and as Harrington charmingly puts it, “It won’t bite.”
Surprisingly, I find out that the quartet has been to Malta before. They were invited by the late Charles Camilleri in the early 1980s.
His fondest memory of Malta? The catacombs. Perhaps it seems odd that for an island renowned for its sun and sea his fondest memory is of an underground burial site. But such a memory is in-keeping with his temperament; his desire to find out what is new, and hidden, and then share it.
Just before we finish our interview, emboldened by his frankness, I ask him which pieces by long dead composers he would play if he had to.
The question throws him off slightly, but soon lists Schubert’s Quintet in C and Beethoven’s Cavatina as some of the greatest works ever written. Still he has no intention of abandoning his cause for new music, and as he puts it, “there is so much to offer and so little time.”
The Kronos Quartet present ‘Around the world with Kronos’ as part of the Malta Arts Festival at the Argotti Gardens, Floriana on July 18 at 9 p.m.
www.maltaartsfestival.org