For more than two decades, Trimpin has been friends
with the Kronos Quartet's artistic director, David Harrington.
Each clearly trusts the other implicitly.
David wanted to 'turn the concert inside-out';
Trimpin was only too happy to oblige;
and conflict and anxiety ensued.
From the outset,
Trimpin's fly-by-the-seat-of-your-conceptual-pants approach
clashed with Kronos' careful, studied virtuosity.
Trimpin encouraged perpetual brainstorming;
the group needed written music. Most of the time,
there was no real score for the quartet to work with --
just Trimpin's cryptic conceptual plans and morphing blueprints.
That the concert highlighted in
TRIMPIN: THE SOUND OF INVENTION
came off at all
is a testament to Kronos' extraordinary openness and musicianship,
and to Trimpin's collaborative flexibility.
:ph.jpg)
