Harrington first conceived of the ensemble in August 1973, during the Vietnam War. According to Harrington, he was inspired to turn to music after hearing composer George Crumb's 1970 song "Black Angels" on the radio.
"Things had been incredibly out of balance, but all of a sudden, there was a piece of music that spoke to the world I was part of," Harrington said, explaining that the song melds the themes of classical composers Schubert and Beethoven whose music he grew up playing with the more popular styles of contemporary musicians such as Jimi Hendrix. "It all came together in one piece," he said. "I had no choice. I had to play that piece."
The Kronos Quartet was formed in Seattle a month later. According to Harrington, the quartet's mission is constantly evolving.
"In 1973, I couldn't have imagined the music that we're playing now. There are so many more technological, social and spiritual possibilities," Harrington said. "It's now possible to be in touch with a group from Palestine within moments."
This emphasis on new music from a variety of cultures is one of the Kronos Quartet's hallmarks. Since Kronos' inception, composers on every continent have written over 700 new pieces for the ensemble. The members of the Kronos Quartet have collaborated with a wide range of artists, including an Inuit throat singer and Romanian gypsy band, as well as more popular groups such as Nine Inch Nails and the Dave Matthews Band.
The widely varied forms of music that influence the Kronos musicians will be evident at Saturday's performance, according to Harrington. The program will open with a piece titled "hold me, neighbor, in this storm" by Serbian composer Aleksandra Vrebalov. For this work, which depicts turmoil in Serbia the musicians will be using traditional Serbian instruments, including a single-stringed goose leaf instrument typically played by Serbian poets, which Harrington learned to play using videos on YouTube.
Following Vrebalov's piece, the Kronos Quartet will perform a vastly different work Ben Johnston's "Amazing Grace," based on the traditional American tune. This piece has been a longtime part of the Kronos repertoire, Harrington said.
The most anticipated part of Saturday's concert will be the world premiere of a piece by acclaimed New York City-based composer Michael Gordon.
Gordon has been writing music for over 25 years for a variety of ensembles, including both large orchestras and smaller chamber groups. Gordon has received commissions from organizations, including the Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall, and his works have been performed at major concert halls worldwide, according to a press release from the Hopkins Center.
Gordon's newest piece, "Clouded Yellow," will be premiered on Saturday. The piece was co-commissioned by the Kronos Quartet and the Hopkins Center, and is the third piece by Gordon that Kronos has commissioned.
"It is an incredible inspiration to work with [Kronos] they have played together every day for 30 years, and you can see it in the incredible musicality, intimacy and experience they bring," Gordon said in an interview with The Dartmouth. "So much happens after the score goes from the composer to the performers. With Kronos, that process is an incredible creative and inventive one."
According to Gordon, this piece represents a drastic departure from the tone of his two other pieces commissioned for Kronos. The tone of the piece, Gordon said, is "light, pretty and fanciful."
The previous piece commissioned by Kronos, on the other hand, is more serious, containing recordings of quotations by young children who lived near Ground Zero and witnessed the events of 9/11.
The title "Clouded Yellow" refers to a species of butterflies. According to Gordon, while writing, he pictured, "tens of thousands of huge, flying, yellow butterflies."
"I like the image of dense yellow traveling through the countryside or forest, and I tried to transfer that visual imagery into the sound," Gordon said, although he admitted he has never seen a clouded yellow butterfly in person. Gordon said he strove to achieve this musical effect through the "fluttering up and down trills" of the first and second violins, reminiscent of "huge flapping yellow wings and a texture that is both very pretty and very dense."
Saturday's concert is part of a three-day residency at the College by Kronos and Gordon. According to Gordon, the artists will also continue to conduct their own rehearsals while on campus, as the piece is still a work-in-progress.
"One of the exciting things about a premiere is that it's still in rehearsal. We're going to be rehearsing Friday and Saturday at Dartmouth, still tweaking," he said.
Although this is the first of Gordon's pieces to be premiered at Dartmouth, the Kronos Quartet has debuted several other pieces at the Hopkins Center.
"There is a lot of support at Dartmouth for Kronos. There's a tradition with us at Dartmouth, and it feels great and natural to present our newest piece at the [Hopkins Center]," Harrington said.
