Kronos Quartet Performs Alfred Schnittke: The Complete String Quartets is a studio album by the Kronos Quartet. The double CD contains all four of Russian composer Alfred Schnittke's "startling" string quartets.[1]String Quartet No.3 was recorded and released in 1988; the other three were recorded between 1994 and 1996 and released in 1998.[2]
The music of Alfred Schnittke became very popular in the United States in the 1990s, and the Kronos Quartet were among many "influential international figures" who played his music.[3] They had recorded a Schnittke composition (String Quartet No.3) as early as 1988; all four of Schnittke's string quartets had been on the Kronos repertoire at least since 1991.[4] Critics responded quite positively to this recording of the quartets. Lawrence Johnson, writing for the New York Times, said, "As the new Schnittke survey attests, the Kronos can play like demons. . . . The Kronos Quartet has delivered a performance in which every phrase is filled, if not with grief, with profound and resonant meaning."[2] The album was nominated for Grammy Awards in two categories, "Best Classical Album" and "Best Chamber Music Performance."[5][6]
^Swed, Mark (1999-01-06). "The 41st Annual Grammy Nominations; Classical; A Sophisticated Balance of the Unusual and the Popular". Los Angeles Times. p. 7.
