ABSTRACT
This article explores the phenomenon of the Kronos Quartet, principally through their recordings, and discusses how, in adopting some features of popular music while retaining elements of their classical heritage, they have redefined conventional musical and cultural notions of the string quartet. This study also argues that Kronos has helped to establish a hybrid, cross-cultural style that might be called “world minimalism” — a style that combines musical traits shared among some world musics with analogous elements found in classical minimalism. The critical literature on the group is considered, especially the charge that the quartet exhibits “postmodern sterility”; although certain pieces in their repertoire might be described as “postmodern,” and while they have been described as a postmodern group in the mass media, the Kronos quartet is actually thoroughly modernist in its approach and presentation, drawing strongly on its classical heritage. The article concludes by arguing that the long-term effect of the Kronos Quartet’s existence has been a substantial re-drawing of the boundaries that existed in recorded music, and that their belief in and promotion of contemporary music has been an extremely beneficial force in the music world.
