This came out in 2005 — or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Kronos Quartet have covered everyone from Ellington to Esquivel and collaborated with everyone from Terry Riley to Tiger Lillies.
For their latest musical mind-meld, the restless string quartet head east to Azerbaijan with pianist Franghiz Ali-Zadeh, who was schooled as a 12-tone composer but seduced by the sophisticated passion of her homeland’s traditional mugam music. On these pieces commissioned by Kronos, Ali-Zadeh combines her influences in darkly complex, alluring works that introduce the emotion of the old world to the calculation of new music. Introduce yourself and fall under its spell.
