The Michigan Daily - WeeU . -- -Thursday, April 11, 1996 -9B Balanescu Quartet breaks musical barriers By Craig Stuntz ily Arts Writer 'The barriers between different kinds of music seem to me to be artificial, really." With these typically succinct words, Romanian-born violinist and composer Alexander Balanescu began to describe the unifying artistic force which drives his unique ensemble. "The music we do is always very expressive; I call it 'lyrical aggressivity.' There is an aggressive element because of the rhythmic drive." Formed in 1987, the BalanescuQuar- tet has released a series of wonderfully performed recordings of music by con- temporary composers such as Michael Nyman and Gavin Bryars. To truly ap- preciate how different they are from other contemporary string quartets such as the Kronos Quartet, however, you need to hear their two albums released on Mute Records. "Possessed," released in 1992, made *m instantly infamous for its acoustic transcriptions of music by the German proto-techno band Kraftwerk. "I think the music is pure genius," Balanescu says. "It's very classical; you can't take anything away, and you can't put any- thing in. A lot of techno nowadays is very overproduced, but their stuff is sort of quintessential." Working with this material alsotaught the group about pop music recording hniques. In their quest to create re- ordings that appeal to gut emotions as well as the intellect, no studio tech- nique is off-limits. For example, listening to "East," the first track of their album "Luminitza," you notice immediately that it doesn't sound like a conventional string quartet recording. The violins are dripping with reverb,the cello has the low-end "thump" of a double bass and the viola bow seems Ohave enough rosin on it to saw through the wooden body of the instrument. What you might not notice at first is that, for as captivating and danceable as the song is, it changes time signature nearly every measure. "I'm very much interested in changing meters," Balanescu says. "I guess that's partly the influence of folk music. In Balkan folk music, it's really a feature; some- times it's so subtle that you can't really count the thing." The playing style is different, too. "Vibrato, which you use in classical and romantic music, we don't use al- most at all," Balanescu explains. The sound he wants is "not always a beauti- ful sound. I'm always looking for a very expressive sound, but not necessarily a classical sound. String instruments can be verypercussive, and verygrainy as well." The other distinctly pop element of the production of "Luminitza" is the use of cross-fades between songs. A series of short, "bridge" tracks, com- posed by second violinist Clare Connors, lead the listener smoothly from one composition to the next. Though the quartet's lineup has changed frequently over the years, Connors has been a long-standing mem- ber and artistic collaborator, and did the Kraftwerk arrangements in 1992. She also wrote about half of the material performed on "Luminitza." Connors described how she and Balanescu work together: "We're sort of opposites in that Alex, maybe be- cause he's such a virtuoso performer, thinks very much when he's writing about the players, and feels that ifthey're great players they should have lots of things to do, whereas I'm very simplis- tic. If I want just one long, very simple note I don't have any guilt about giving that to somebody and I don't worry that they'll get bored playing it." The Balanescu Quartet has adeptly managed to work within and be taken very seriously in the classical world, and maintain a pop sensibility at the same time. When Balanescu, a Julliard graduate, formed the ensemble, he wanted to create and nurture long-term relationships with the composers whose work they recorded, instead of churn- ing through more than 100 new works per .year, as with the quartet he had previously played with. The band's more "typically classical" releases in- clude music by Robert Moran, Michael Torke, and Kevin Volans. Both Balanescu and Connors had worked with composer Michael Nyman for 15 years, and had a major impact on the sound ofhis band. "Before wejoined," remembered Balanescu, "he was using baroque strings and the whole sound was acoustic. But with this kind of'aggressive lyricism,' it changed, and we started to amplify the strings, and then the whole band was amplified and it went much more towards rock and roll." This use of amplification as an ex- pressive tool continued with the Balanescu Quartet: "When we play live, we always amplify. The sound engi- neeris very important; he's like another member of the group. We try to gain in powerand bring the audience in our midst, but without losing the wonderful nuances that the string instruments can have." After forming the group, Balanescu started to work with non-classical mu- sicians such as David Byrne, Elvis Costello and John Lurie, because he discovered that he could learn a lot from "people who have no preconcep- tions about the string quartet at all." The group has also worked with non- musical artists such as filmmakers Derek Jarman and Phillip Haas and noted chore- ographer Philippe Saire, whose company performed at the University's Mendelsohn theater last fall. Writing the score Haas's film "An- gels and Insects" allowed Balanescu to work with a much larger ensemble, a sound that will re-emerge on the Quartet's next album. "The material I've finished seems to be going towards an orchestral sort of feeling," he says. "I have this image of orchestral dance music. I'll probably have bass and drums, but with a larger ensemble of strings, and possibly brass." Balanescu also reworked some of the music that is heard in "Angels and Insects" before going back into the studio to finish the soundtrack album. "I expanded some pieces which I thought were nice ideas, but fleeting in the film." It was filmmaker Jarman who intro- duced the group to the Pet Shop Boys, a relationship that led them to perform in front of 10,000 people at London's Wembley stadium. What was it like for a string quartet to open up for the Pet Shop Boys? "Dangerous!" answers Balanescu. "It was an irresistible challenge." Balanescu, who seems to be equally adept at appealing to classical academics and contemporary fans, seemed like a good person to ask about the future of classical music. His answer was quite surprising: "In terms of young composers in the sort of 'serious classical' area, to my mind there hasn't been a new genera- tion to take over from Nyman and Bryars and Glass and Reich. ... There is an area of electronic music or techno or ambient that in a way is now sort of indistinguishable from the classical area. ... I think that's very hopeful, because some of this music, which is primarily instrumental as well, is quite success- ful, because young people are prepared to listen to it. "Even techno and electronic music can be very, very intellectual and very dry. This influence from ethnic music I Look out - the South's most notorious band of merry country punksters is coming: to town! Dash Rip Rock will be ripping into the Magic Stick at 9 p.m. in Detroit this Friday, to share their New Orleans punkabilly joy. In support of their sixth ' record, "Get You Some Of Me," the trio has mastered the art of combining wild if stage antics with great music. The Rugburns open the show. Call 833-9700.