CAL PERFORMANCES PRESENTS PROGRAM

Sunday, February 5, 2012, 7pm Hertz Hall

Kronos Quartet & Alim Qasimov Ensemble Kronos Quartet & Alim Qasimov Ensemble

Kronos Quartet Alim Qasimov Ensemble Jahangir Jahangirov (1921–1992) Köhlen Atim (“My spirited horse”)† David Harrington violin Alim Qasimov vocals, daf John Sherba violin Fargana Qasimova vocals, daf Unattributed Peyman Ettik (“I gave my word”)† Hank Dutt viola Rauf Islamov kamancha † Jeffrey Zeigler cello Zaki Valiyev tar Shafiga Okhundova (b. 1924) Mehriban Olaq (“Let’s be kind”) Rafael Asgarov clarinet, balaban Said Rustamov (1907–1983) Getme, Getme (“Don’t leave, don’t leave”)† Laurence Neff lighting designer Javidan Nabiyev naghara Scott Fraser sound designer Unattributed Qashlarin Kamandir (“Your eyebrows are Evan Adams technical associate bow-like”)†

PROGRAM The works on the second half of the program were arranged by Alim Qasimov, with string quartet parts arranged for Kronos by Jacob Garchik. Kronos Quartet These arrangements were commissioned for the Kronos Quartet and Alim Qasimov by the Aga Khan Music Initiative, a program of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, Michael Gordon (b. 1956) Clouded Yellow (2010)* and the Columbia Foundation. Bay Area premiere This concert and residency are presented in collaboration with the Aga Khan Music Initiative, a program of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture. Bob Dylan (b. 1941) Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right (1963)† (arr. Philip Glass (b. 1937), additional Program is subject to change. orchestration by Kronos) Bay Area premiere * Written for Kronos † Arranged for Kronos

Franghiz Ali-Zadeh (b. 1947) Oasis (1998)*

See page 17 for a listing of Education & Community Events Alim Qasimov Ensemble presented in conjunction with this concert.

Traditional Mahur Hindi Destgahi

Cal Performances’ 2011–2012 season is sponsored by Wells Fargo. INTERMISSION

4 CAL PERFORMANCES CAL PERFORMANCES 5 PROGRAM NOTES PROGRAM NOTES

Michael Gordon (b. 1956) Academy of Music’s Next Wave Festival in Bob Dylan (b. 1941) the years,” Glass says. “It has been inspiring to Clouded Yellow (2010) December 2000. Gordon holds a Bachelor of Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right (1963) follow the ways he always found to reinvent his Arts from New York University and a Master Arranged by Philip Glass (b. 1937), with additional musical personae.” Michael Gordon was born in Miami Beach, of Music from the Yale School of Music. He is orchestration by Kronos Similarly, in recording “Don’t Think Twice” Florida, and raised in Nicaragua, in an Eastern co-founder of the Bang on a Can Festival, a ma- for Chimes of Freedom, Kronos and guest art- European community on the outskirts of jor force in the presentation of new music. His In early 1961, an ambitious 19-year-old folk- ist Vân-Ánh Vanessa Võ, playing indigenous Managua. His music, which combines the in- recordings include Weather (Nonesuch), Trance singer named Robert Zimmerman moved from Vietnamese instruments, completely refash- tensity and power of rock music and his formal (Argo), Decasia (Cantaloupe), Lost Objects Minnesota to New York City. The following ioned the song’s musical personality. They built composition studies at Yale, has been performed (Teldec), Big Noise from Nicaragua (CRI) and year, he released his self-titled debut album un- on the foundation of Glass’s characteristic throughout the world. Gordon’s early composi- Light Is Calling (Nonesuch). der his new name, Bob Dylan. Although that pulsating momentum and closely layered voic- tions demonstrate a deep exploration into the About Clouded Yellow, Gordon writes: LP included only two original songs, Dylan ings—thickening his arrangement’s distinctive possibilities and nature of rhythm and what “Working on this string quartet, I found threw himself into a frenzy of songwriting that lines by joining Võ’s 16-string, zither-like đàn happens when rhythms are piled on top of each myself thinking about the Clouded Yellow. This yielded such soon-to-be classics as “Blowin’ in Tranh with violin and viola, and quadrupling other, creating a glorious confusion. butterfly takes part in mass migrations that are the Wind,” “Masters of War,” “A Hard Rain’s the lead melody with violin, muted violin, re- Gordon’s special interest in adding dimen- referred to in England as ‘clouded yellow years.’ a-Gonna Fall,” and “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All tuned violin, and Võ’s đàn Bầu. sionality to the concert experience has led to I love the image of a cloud of bright yellow Right,” all of which appeared on his 1963 sopho- Much like a theremin, the bending pitches frequent collaborations with artists in other butterflies, and I think the word ‘clouded’ de- more release, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan. of the monochord đàn Bầu add an ethereal vocal media. In his string orchestra piece Weather, a scribes the blurred harmonies and melodies of In the five decades since it first appeared, quality. To retain the depth and breadth of this collaboration with video artist Elliot Caplan, this piece. “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” has been, ac- unique palette of tones, timbres and voices in the musicians sit on scaffolding three tiers high. “I imagined the opening harmony to be cording to several sources, Dylan’s second-most concert, Kronos has prerecorded the non–string In Gordon’s 2001 multimedia orchestra piece accordion-like, a syncopated vamp played by the covered song, eclipsed only by “Blowin’ in the quartet elements, integrating them seamlessly Decasia, the audience sits on swivel chairs en- viola and cello. The rhythm, a tugging three over Wind.” The approximately 220 artists who have into the live performance of this one-of-a-kind circled by the orchestra and large projection four, flits in and out. I heard some high sighing recorded this ambiguous love song include Peter, interpretation of an American classic. scrims. In The Carbon Copy Building, an op- sounds floating above all of this and gave them Paul and Mary (1963), Bobby Darin, Johnny Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All era collaboration with comic book artist Ben to the violins. It was as if I could hear the flap- Cash, Elvis Presley, Joan Baez, Doc Watson, Right” was arranged by Philip Glass for the Katchor, Bob McGrath and the Ridge Theater, ping of butterfly wings. I imagined I was flying Elliott Smith, Bryan Ferry, Social Distortion, Kronos Quartet. and the composers David Lang and Julia Wolfe, around on a butterfly, gliding in the air, the the Allman Brothers Band and, most recently, Note by Derk Richardson a projected comic strip accompanies the singers, air dense with moisture, like in a rainforest. It both Ke$ha and Kronos Quartet for Chimes of interacting with each other so that the frames was all very free and fanciful, like a travelogue Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan Honoring 50 fall away in the telling of this story (the work around a garden. Years of Amnesty International. Franghiz Ali-Zadeh (b. 1947) received the 2000 Village Voice OBIE Award for “I tried to feel the thickness of the atmo- As with all things Dylan, much lore swirls Oasis (1998) Best New American Work). Gordon premiered sphere and create a reverberant sound texture. around “Don’t Think Twice”: that Dylan Gotham at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall in February The raw sound of open strings drones in ac- wrote it thinking about his girlfriend, Suze Franghiz Ali-Zadeh was born in Azerbaijan, a 2004; the work incorporates film, projections, companiment to the melody. The C, G and D Rotolo, who was away in Italy; that Johnny republic of the Soviet States. She first came to lighting and an orchestra of 35 musicians to ex- strings can be heard vibrating in almost all parts Cash borrowed parts of the melody for his song prominence as a composer and performer while plore the “other” New York City. The Sad Park of the quartet. And the C string on cello, its “Understand Your Man”; and that Dylan bor- still a student of the celebrated composer Kara is Gordon’s second string quartet written for lowest note, is used as a pedal point through- rowed the melody (and some words) from folk- Karayev. Ali-Zadeh is highly regarded for her Kronos Quartet; the first, Potassium, premiered out. While I was creating this string quartet I singer Paul Clayton’s “Who’s Goin’ to Buy You creativity and distinctive style. Her composi- in 2000. thought about each of the members of Kronos. Ribbons When I’m Gone?” (which drew on tions draw from the vocabulary of modern In 1983, Gordon formed the Michael Gordon Their personalities and talents were never far the traditional tune “Who’s Gonna Buy Your European classical music, including the Second Philharmonic—part string quartet, part rock from my consciousness.” Chickens When I’m Gone?”). Viennese School, and incorporate the sounds band—which performed his angular tunes and Michael Gordon’s Clouded Yellow was In his new arrangement of “Don’t Think of mugham (the main modal unit of Arabic driving rhythms with compelling energy and commissioned for the Kronos Quartet by Twice” for Kronos, Philip Glass went back to music), music traditional to Azerbaijan. As a off-beat humor in concerts worldwide. The lat- the Hopkins Center, Dartmouth College. what he calls “a gritty, bluesy and almost tra- pianist, she performs at international festivals, est incarnation of this ensemble, now called the Additional project support was provided by the ditional setting” of the song. “I’ve been listen- playing programs that include the works of Michael Gordon Band, debuted at the Brooklyn Argosy Foundation Contemporary Music Fund. ing to Bob Dylan’s songs since I was in my Crumb, Messiaen and Schoenberg, composers twenties and have kept up with his work over she has popularized for Eastern audiences. She

6 CAL PERFORMANCES CAL PERFORMANCES 7 PROGRAM NOTES PROGRAM NOTES is recognized as a master interpreter of works Jahangir Jahangirov (1921–1992) intermezzos that evoke the signature styles of by 20th-century European and American com- Köhlen Atim (“My spirited horse”) other composers who have represented the East: posers, the Soviet avant-garde and traditional the lush harmonic textures of Rimsky-Korsakov; Azerbaijani composers. Unattributed the brooding modal melodies of Bartók; the mo- About Oasis, Ali-Zadeh writes: Peyman Ettik (“I gave my word”) toric ostinato patterns of Philip Glass. “An oasis is a quiet place of refuge, which ev- In the end, of course, it is not only a score eryone dreams about when weary from life’s tu- Shafiga Okhundova (b. 1924) that melds together different musical instru- mults. It is a land of repose, beauty, and prosper- Mehriban Olaq (“Let’s be kind”) ments and traditions but the empathy that devel- ity. Travelers in particular dream about oases, ops among the music’s performers. Speaking of exhausted from the intense heat in the endless Said Rustamov (1907–1983) the Alim Qasimov Ensemble, David Harrington desert. Most of all they dream of water—clean, Getme, Getme (“Don’t leave, don’t leave”) said, “They’re tremendously generous musicians cold, crystalline water! They see water in their and people, and you really feel that in playing dreams—in the form of brooks and fountains, Unattributed with them.” The ebullient results of the Kronos- drops and waterfalls. It murmurs to them in Qashlarin Kamandir (“Your eyebrows Qasimov collaboration confirm that the feeling their ears and falls in a stream onto their heads, are bow-like”) expressed by Mr. Harrington is surely mutual. cleansing their bodies and souls, bringing them These arrangements by Alim Qasimov, with coolness and bliss. The travelers dream about These vibrant performances of five songs from string quartet parts arranged by Jacob Garchik, shady trees and crimson roses, about delicacies Azerbaijan fuse multiple layers—both old and were commissioned for the Kronos Quartet which beautiful women will bring to them. They new—of composition, arrangement, and impro- and the Alim Qasimov Ensemble by the Aga dream about hearing the mellifluous singing of visation. In each case, the oldest layer is a stroph- Khan Music Initiative, a program of the Aga the ‘Gazelles’ of love again (a ‘Gazelle’ is a poetic ic song composed during the mid-20th century, Khan Trust for Culture, and the Columbia form of a Mugam; it is based on a specific struc- when Azerbaijan, like other Soviet republics, Foundation. Recordings are available on ture of classical Azerbaijani love poems). But to cultivated an active tradition of popular song- Rainbow: Music of Central Asia, Vol. 8. reach this blessed land, this ‘El Dorado,’ is not writing that blended local and European mu- Note by Theodore Levin, adapted from liner so easy. Tests still await the travelers: There is a sical instruments and styles. Though the com- notes to Rainbow: Music of Central Asia, Vol. 8 long road, full of dangers and agitations. posers of four of the five songs are known, their (Smithsonian Folkways). “Oasis is one of the works included in the works became a part of oral musical tradition, Silk Road cycle. The premiere of Mirage (for oud with the result that performers came up with and chamber orchestra) was performed by the their own arrangements. For “Getme, Getme” Nieuw Ensemble Amsterdam in the Netherlands and “Qashlarin Kamandir,” Alim Qasimov’s ar- in the beginning of 1998. In November 1998, rangements include, in addition to the original Ask havasi (for solo cello) was premiered by strophic melody and lyrics, improvised vocal Ivan Monigetti in Tallinn. The premiere of a and instrumental interludes featuring couplets concerto for percussion and chamber orches- from classical Azerbaijani poetry (ghazals) per- tra, performed by Evelyn Glennie and the formed in the style of mugham, the art music Collegium Novum Zürich, was in August 1999 tradition of Azerbaijan. at the International Music Festival in Lucerne, The Alim Qasimov Ensemble recorded per- Switzerland; this work, titled Silk Road, is also formances of these arrangements and sent them part of the cycle.” to Kronos arranger Jacob Garchik, who built on Franghiz Ali-Zadeh’s Oasis was commis- Qasimov’s elaborations in scoring the songs for sioned for the Kronos Quartet by Alta Tingle quartet. Mr. Garchik’s scores not only skillfully and the National Endowment for the Arts. The meld the four Western and four Azerbaijani work appears on the 2005 Nonesuch release instruments into an integral octet that accom- Mugam Sayagi: Music of Franghiz Ali-Zadeh, panies the singers, but the scores also depart which includes several of the composer’s works from the script provided by the songs to offer commissioned for Kronos. short compositions for Kronos—instrumental

8 CAL PERFORMANCES CAL PERFORMANCES 9 ABOUT THE ARTISTS ABOUT THE ARTISTS

composers (Aleksandra Vrebalov, John Adams, the likes of icons Allen Ginsberg, Zakir Hussain, The quartet is committed to mentoring emerg- Alfred Schnittke), jazz legends (Ornette Coleman, Modern Jazz Quartet, Noam Chomsky, Rokia ing professional performers, and in 2007 Kronos Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk) and artists Traoré, Tom Waits, David Barsamian, Howard led its first Professional Training Workshop with from even farther afield (rock guitar legend Jimi Zinn, Betty Carter and David Bowie, and has four string quartets as part of the Weill Music Hendrix, Azeri vocalist Alim Qasimov, interdisci- appeared on recordings by such diverse talents as Institute at Carnegie Hall. Subsequent workshops plinary composer/performer Meredith Monk). Nine Inch Nails, Amon Tobin, Dan Zanes, DJ at Carnegie Hall and other venues have expanded Integral to Kronos’s work is a series of long- Spooky, Dave Matthews, Nelly Furtado, Joan this aspect of the quartet’s work. One of Kronos’s running, in-depth collaborations with many of the Armatrading and Don Walser. most exciting initiatives is the Kronos: Under 30 world’s foremost composers. One of the quartet’s Kronos’s music has also featured prominently Project, a unique commissioning and composer- most frequent composer-collaborators is “Father in other media, including film Requiem( for a in-residence program for composers under 30 years of Minimalism” Terry Riley, whose work with Dream, The Fountain, 21 Grams, Heat, True Stories) old, launched in conjunction with Kronos’s own Kronos includes the early Sunrise of the Planetary and dance, with noted choreographers such as 30th birthday in 2003. By cultivating creative rela- Dream Collector; Cadenza on the Night Plain and Merce Cunningham, Paul Taylor, Twyla Tharp, tionships with such emerging talents and a wealth Salome Dances for Peace; 2002’s Sun Rings, a multi- and Eiko & Koma setting pieces to Kronos’s music. of other artists from around the world, Kronos media, NASA-commissioned ode to the earth and The quartet spends five months of each year on reaps the benefit of decades of wisdom while main-

Jay Blakesberg Jay its people, featuring celestial sounds and images tour, appearing in concert halls, clubs, and festi- taining a fresh approach to music-making inspired from space; and Another Secret eQuation for youth vals around the world including BAM Next Wave by a new generation of composers and performers. or more than thirty years, the Kronos chorus and string quartet, premiered at a concert Festival, Carnegie Hall, the Barbican in London, Kronos records for Nonesuch Records. FQuartet—David Harrington, John Sherba celebrating Riley’s 75th birthday. Kronos commis- WOMAD, UCLA’s Royce Hall, Amsterdam’s (violins), Hank Dutt (viola), and Jeffrey Zeigler sioned and recorded the three string quartets of Concertgebouw, Shanghai Concert Hall and the For the Kronos Quartet/ (cello)—has pursued a singular artistic vision, com- Polish composer Henryk Mikolaj Górecki, with Sydney Opera House. Kronos is equally prolific Kronos Performing Arts Association bining a spirit of fearless exploration with a com- whom the group worked for more than 25 years. and wide-ranging on recordings. The ensemble’s Janet Cowperthwaite, Managing Director mitment to expanding the range and context of the The Quartet has also collaborated extensively with expansive discography on Nonesuch Records in- Laird Rodet, Associate Director string quartet. In the process, Kronos has become composers such as Philip Glass, recording his cludes collections like Pieces of Africa (1992), a Sidney Chen, Artistic Administrator one of the most celebrated and influential groups string quartets and scores to films like Mishima showcase of African-born composers, which simul- Scott Fraser, Sound Designer of our time, performing thousands of concerts and Dracula (a restored edition of the Bela Lugosi taneously topped Billboard’s Classical and World Christina Johnson, Communications Manager worldwide, releasing more than 45 recordings of classic); Azerbaijan’s Franghiz Ali-Zadeh, whose Music lists; 1998’s ten-disc anthology, Kronos Derek Lance, Intern extraordinary breadth and creativity, collaborat- works are featured on the full-length 2005 release Quartet: 25 Years; Nuevo (2002), a Grammy- Nikolás McConnie-Saad, Office Manager ing with many of the world’s most eclectic com- Mugam Sayagi: Music of Franghiz Ali-Zadeh; Steve and Latin Grammy–nominated celebration of Hannah Neff,Production Associate posers and performers, and commissioning more Reich, whose Kronos-recorded Different Trains Mexican culture; and the 2003 Grammy-winner, Laurence Neff, Production Director than 750 works and arrangements for string quar- earned a Grammy for the composer; Argentina’s Alban Berg’s Lyric Suite. The group’s latest releases Lucinda Toy, Business Operations Manager tet. In 2011, Kronos became the only recipients of Osvaldo Golijov, whose work with Kronos in- are Floodplain (Nonesuch, 2009), spotlighting both the Polar Music Prize and the Avery Fisher cludes both compositions and extensive arrange- music from regions of the world riven by con- Curtis Smith, Chair, Board of Directors Prize, two of the most prestigious awards given to ments for albums like Kronos Caravan and Nuevo; flict; Rainbow (Smithsonian Folkways, 2010), in musicians. The group’s numerous awards also in- and many more. collaboration with musicians from Afghanistan Kronos Quartet/ clude a Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music In addition to composers, Kronos counts and Azerbaijan; and Uniko (Ondine, 2011) with Kronos Performing Arts Association Performance (2004) and “Musicians of the Year” numerous artists from around the world among Finnish accordion/sampler duo Kimmo Pohjonen P. O. Box 225340 (2003) from Musical America. its collaborators, including the Chinese pipa and Samuli Kosminen. San Francisco, CA 94122-5340 Kronos’s adventurous approach dates back to virtuoso Wu Man; legendary Bollywood “play- Kronos’s recording and performances reveal www.kronosquartet.org the ensemble’s origins. In 1973, David Harrington back singer” Asha Bhosle, featured on Kronos’s only a fraction of the group’s commitment to new www.facebook.com/kronosquartet was inspired to form Kronos after hearing George Grammy-nominated CD, You’ve Stolen My Heart: music. As a nonprofit organization based in San www.myspace.com/kronosquartet Crumb’s Black Angels, a highly unorthodox, Songs from R. D. Burman’s Bollywood; Inuit throat Francisco, the Kronos Performing Arts Association Twitter: @kronosquartet #kronos Vietnam War-inspired work featuring bowed wa- singer Tanya Tagaq; Mexican rockers Café Tacuba; has commissioned more than 750 new works and ter glasses, spoken-word passages and electronic ef- genre-defying sound artist and instrument builder arrangements for string quartet. Music publish- fects. Kronos then began building a compellingly Walter Kitundu; the Romanian gypsy band Taraf ers Boosey & Hawkes and Kronos have released diverse repertoire for string quartet, performing de Haïdouks; renowned American soprano Dawn sheet music for three signature works, all commis- and recording works by 20th-century masters Upshaw; and the unbridled British cabaret trio, sioned for Kronos, in the first volume of the Kronos (Bartók, Shostakovich, Webern), contemporary the Tiger Lillies. Kronos has performed live with Collection, a performing edition edited by Kronos.

10 CAL PERFORMANCES CAL PERFORMANCES 11 ABOUT THE ARTISTS

In 1999, Alim Qasimov was awarded the prestigious IMC/UNESCO Music Prize for performers—the same award received in pre- vious years by Ravi Shankar, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Yehudi Menuhin and Benny Goodman, among others. He performs regularly in major concert venues throughout the world, and has collaborated with artists from the domain of popular as well as classical music—most no- tably among the latter, Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble. Alim Qasimov (b. 1957) and his daughter Sebastian Schutyser & Aga Khan Trust for Culture The Alim Qasimov Ensemble appears on Fargana (b. 1979) exemplify the explosive ar- the Kronos Quartet’s 2009 album Floodplain tistic energy that results when a powerful musi- (Nonesuch), and 2010 sees the release of the cal model ignites the spark of young talent. “To CD Rainbow on Smithsonian Folkways, which be a musician, there has to be a fire burning in features studio recordings of their collaboration you,” says the elder Qasimov. “It’s either there with the Kronos Quartet. or it isn’t. I’m convinced that if young people have this spark—call it inspiration, call it spiri- The Aga Khan Music Initiative is an interre- tual fire—they can perform any kind of music. gional music and arts education program with It could be pop, folk, or classical, but whatever it worldwide performance, outreach, mentoring, is, they’ll stand out.” and artistic production activities. Launched to Fargana Qasimova’s talent gravitated natu- support talented musicians and music educa- rally toward the music she heard from her father: tors working to preserve, transmit, and further Azerbaijani classical music, known as mugham, develop their musical heritage in contemporary and the repertoire of popular bardic songs sung forms, the Music Initiative began its work in by ashiqs, singer-songwriters who might be con- Central Asia, subsequently expanding its cul- sidered modern-day troubadours. Both kinds of tural development activities to include artistic music are featured in this evening’s performance. communities and audiences in the Middle East, The Qasimovs are accompanied by a quar- North Africa and South Asia. The Initiative pro- tet of young musicians whose talent was shaped motes the revitalization of cultural heritage both both by formal music education and immersion as a source of livelihood for musicians and as a in Azerbaijani oral tradition. “When I meet means to strengthen pluralism in nations where with the musicians in my ensemble,” says Alim, it is challenged by social, political, and econom- “there’s an atmosphere that starts to nourish us ic constraints. that comes from beyond our own will, and that’s the source of the unpredictability in our music. Aga Khan Music Initiative Staff It’s almost a feeling of ecstasy that leads to a Fairouz R. Nishanova, Director kind of meditation.” Theodore Levin, Senior Project Consultant www.akdn.org/Music

12 CAL PERFORMANCES