Winter Was Hard

1988 studio album by Kronos Quartet

Winter Was Hard

Studio album by

Kronos Quartet

Released

30 September 1988 (1988-09-30)

Genre

Contemporary classical

Label

Nonesuch (#79181)

Producer

Judith Sherman, John Zorn

Kronos Quartet chronology

White Man Sleeps
(1988)

Winter Was Hard
(1988)

Steve Reich: Different Trains/Electric Counterpoint
(1989)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	^[1]

Winter Was Hard is a studio album by the Kronos Quartet. It contains compositions by Aulis Sallinen, Terry Riley, Arvo Pärt, Anton Webern, John Zorn, John Lurie, Ástor Piazzolla, Alfred Schnittke, and Samuel Barber.

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Winter Was Hard Op. 20"	Aulis Sallinen	1:40
2.	"Half-Wolf Dances Mad in Moonlight"	Terry Riley	8:21
3.	"Fratres"	Arvo Pärt	9:23
4.	"Six Bagatelles, Op. 9"	Anton Webern	3:57
5.	"Forbidden Fruit"	John Zorn	10:20
6.	"Bella By Barlight"	John Lurie	2:47
7.	"Four, For Tango"	Ástor Piazzolla	4:41
8.	"Quartet No. 3"	Alfred Schnittke	19:06
9.	"Adagio"	Samuel Barber	7:09
10.	"A Door is Ajar"	traditional	0:37

Critical reception

The album was listed at #11 in the Los Angeles Times Classical Top 25 of 1989.^[2] Brian Olewnick, in the All Music Guide to Jazz, calls it a "fairly typical early mélange type recording by Kronos, mixing in au courant contemporary fare with a downtown edge and 20th century classics."^[3]

Credits

Musicians

David Harrington – violin
John Sherba – violin
Hank Dutt – viola
Joan Jeanrenaud – cello
San Francisco Girls Chorus, Elizabeth Appling, director ("Winter Was Hard Op. 20")
Earl L. Miller – reed organ ("Winter Was Hard Op. 20")
Christian Marclay – turntables ("Forbidden Fruit")
Ohta Hiromi – voice ("Forbidden Fruit")

Production

Tracks 1–4, 6–10 recorded November 1987 at Methuen Memorial Music Hall, Methuen, Massachusetts
- John Newton – Engineer
Track 1 recorded January 1988 at St. Ignatius Church, San Francisco, CA
- Howard Johnston, John Newton – Engineers
Track 5 produced by John Zorn, recorded September 1987 at Russian Hill Recording, San Francisco, CA (Howard Johnston – Engineer) and at Metal Box Studio, Tokyo, Japan (Ono Seigen – Engineer); mixed September 1987 at CBS Roppongi Studio, Tokyo, Japan by Ono Seigen

References

^ Winter Was Hard at AllMusic, by Brian Olewnick
^ "By The Numbers: Top 25 Classical Albums of 1989". Los Angeles Times. 1989-12-26.
^ Bogdanov, Vladimir; Chris Woodstra; Stephen Thomas Erlewine (2002). "Kronos Quartet". All Music Guide to Jazz: The Definitive Guide to Jazz Music. Backbeat. p. 300. ISBN 978-0-87930-717-2. Retrieved 2009-01-28.