Name David Harrington
Best known for Unwavering work in Kronos Quartet daily since September 1, 1973—with a singular devotion to the immense sonic and expressive possibilities when combining two violins, a viola, and a cello. This combination can reflect inner private worlds and their collisions with varying public realities. My intent is to harness the power of this art form and to structure experiences inspired by the awesome creativity of nature, using tools as they become available, to extend the canvas of music and lifelong investigations. I want us to listen in to the human sounds which result from the friction between life and the world while we stay attuned to the infinite sound of loss, as we spread sonic results energetically, joyously, and widely.
Current city San Francisco, California.
Where I would most like to be I would love to be wherever the Golden Record is at last finally heard on its journey in order to see the look on the face of whoever it might be when that little slice of humanity’s sound gets perceived by an unimaginably remote being.
Most excited Kronos has a new title! We are now Doomsday Clock Artists-in-Residence for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. This opportunity has me on the edge of my chair and totally inspired. We are trying to figure out how Kronos’ music might be able to lead, celebrate, and explore new possibilities for the way scientists and compositional thought leaders can interact, as we find fresh ways to make concerts.
Current music collection I’m exploring sounds from other species: music that is used in all sorts of spiritual practices, music played on new instruments, many vintage singers from areas of conflict, the huge world of Lee “Scratch” Perry, new composers…the world of music is getting bigger!
Preferred format I like to hear music in every way possible. [I can imagine breathable, edible, injectable music in the future.]
5 Albums I Can’t Live Without:
1
Sounds of North American Frogs, Charles Bogert
No matter what has happened or is happening, this album always makes me feel better. A wide variety of frogs and toads tells us much about our world. Natural musicians, their abundance indicates the health of each environment. Their scarcity tells us danger lurks. Their variety of calls is thrilling. Charles M. Bogert’s voice is the perfect voice to teach us about frogs and toads.
2
Musique Des Tsiganes De Roumanie, Taraf de Haïdouks
When I first heard Taraf de Haïdouks’ “Ballad of a Dictator” and Nicolae Neacșu’s incredible “talking/friction drum” violin sound, I went nuts. What a vital, wild sound! Kronos had to perform with them! I had to learn to make the sound Nicolae made. It took a while, but we did it and Nicolae eventually showed me how it’s done. The last time I saw him was at breakfast in Iceland: two founders of groups, whose common language was music, nodding to each other as we ate breakfast silently…
3
Ágætis byrjun, Sigur Rós
I measure every musical experience by how far it reaches inside of me and how much more I have to hear of it. I was in an airport somewhere when I first heard Ágætis byrjun. I went through a whole set of batteries in my CD player listening again and again that day. The inward beauty, the soaring moments, the perfection of electronic effects grab me on every listen. I love it when music stands outside of time…
4
Lyric Suite, Alban Berg
The Lyric Suite was a favorite piece of mine when I was in high school and beyond to this day. This recording by the Juilliard Quartet changed my life forever. When Regan and I had our first date in 1968, we decided to have a second date! Each of us would bring a favorite LP and we would play it for each other. Regan brought Joan Baez’s Farewell Angelina and I brought the Lyric Suite. I think that I got some points for what must have seemed to her like very bizarre music at that time. Fortunately, she did not give up on me. We are still diving into all sorts of amazing rabbit holes together. As little points of poetry, my very last violin lesson with my teacher of 30 years Veda Reynolds was on one note of the Lyric Suite. Kronos recorded it in the spring of 2000. This recording with Dawn Upshaw won Kronos our first Grammy.
5
Black Angels, George Crumb
When I heard this first recording of Black Angels in August 1973 on a Seattle radio station, I knew instantly that I had found my song. The next morning I called the publisher, got the score a few days later and realized I had to get a serious group together that could would play Black Angels. This music sounded to me like a response to the American war in Vietnam—it felt like it was my own response to the crazed world at that time. Kronos had our first rehearsal on September 1, 1973. It took until 1989 for me to figure out what music should follow Black Angels on our recording. I knew the first sound of our album had to be “Night of the Electric Insects.” When I spoke to George Crumb for the album notes I asked him if Black Angels was his response to the war. He would only say: “There were strange things in the air and they found their way into Black Angels.” Those strange things in the air have gotten stranger and stranger since then, but Black Angels remains as the forceful, alarming, beautiful work that brought the form of the string quartet to relevance in a shattered time. There would be no Kronos Quartet without my chance encounter with Black Angels in 1973.
