Kronos Quartet: "Around the World"

San Francisco-based Kronos Quartet presented the family-friendly "Around the World" program at Chicago's Harris Theater on January 30.

The one-hour concert was performed on a sparse stage by cellist Sunny Yang, violist Hank Dutt, and violinists David Harrington and John Sherba, who also introduced each of the ten pieces, all specifically written or arranged for the quartet, to the audience of mostly parents and kids.

In the post-show talk-back, he added that the group had performed all of these songs before, but never in the same program twice.

The inaugural piece was Omar Souleyman's Syrian "La Sidounak Sayyada," or "I'll Prevent the Hunters from Hunting You" -- not as ominous as it sounds, given recent events (which Sherba noted in his introductory comments), but actually a love song often played at weddings, using a hand drum, thumping cello, furious fiddling, and ending with a "hay!"

American music was inserted among the international offerings, and the second piece was Willie Dixon's dissonant, bluesy "Spoonful," written in Chicago and chugging like a train thanks to a scraping cello riff.

India's N. Rajam wrote "Dadra in Raga Bhairavi," a mellow meditation underscored by a churning soundscape background.

Wearing a long lemon gown with tippet sleeves and an up-do, V�n �nh V� joined the quartet on Kim Sinh's "Luu Thuy Truong," playing the ?�n tranh, the Vietnamese plucked zither.

Irishman Garth Knox composed "Satellites: 1. Geostationary" as part of the series "Fifty for the Future: The Kronos Learning Repertoire," which featured plucked strings and a haunting quality.

Mali's Fod� Lassana Diabat� also contributed to the "Fifty" with "Sunjata's Time: 1. Sumaworo," and included a lyrical opening, followed by plucked strings as well, sounding more Irish than the previous tune.

Another "Fifty" entry was Wu Man's "Four Chinese Paintings: IV. Silk and Bamboo," which opened and closed with a small gong, propelled throughout by the tick-tock of a wood block. This piece sounded traditional, with a bit of a hoedown in the middle.

The group's "favorite Swedish song" was traditional Scandinavian folk offering "Tusen Tankar (A Thousand Thoughts)," a bittersweet study of unrequited love.

V� rejoined the group for "My Lai Lullaby," co-written by her, Jonathan Berger and Harrington. She also played the single-stringed ?�n b?u, which warbles like a Theremin. The cacophonic piece also included recorded voices speaking in English and Vietnamese.

The matinee concluded with Ervin T. Rouse's rousing American "Orange Blossom Special," another train-sounding, toe-tapping fiddling tune.

Kronos has released more than 50 recordings, and has commissioned more than 800 string quartet arrangements and works. They received a 2004 Best Chamber Music Performance Grammy, the Polar Music Prize and the Avery Fisher Prize.

The Kronos Quartet performed in Chicago on January 30 as part of the Harris Theater's Exelon Family Series. Performing thousands of worldwide concerts, the group will return to San Francisco and the SFJAZZ Center from February 4-7. For a complete performance calendar, visit www.kronosquartet.org.