Review: Kronos String Quartet: You've Stolen My Heart

The latest project undertaken by the Kronos Quartet - You've Stolen My Heart - is a " vibrant homage to the pre-eminent composer of classic Bollywood, Rahul Dev 'R.D.' Burman." Ugh.

Take the following with a caveat: the singing on this recording is wonderful. Kronos also plays far better than an ad-hoc Bollywood orchestra, and used their market clout to enlist viruosi like Zakkir Hussein (tabla) and Wu Man (pipa) to toot along. And, it goes without saying that Asha Bhosle's voice is both beautiful and intriguing.

That's where the value ends. This recording is like having the Philadelphia Orchestra lay down the string licks on a disco album. You've Stolen My Heart is a set of goofy, kitschy Bollywood musical soundtracks played by the best damn backup band in the world. Like a Thomas Kinkade painting of a thatched-roof hut, Kronos graces the recording with about six chords, a few scales, and scribbles their name on top.

You've Stolen My Heart is not a String Quartet's desire to branch out and explore the music of other cultures. Kronos is a bunch of sell-outs to tapas-eating suburbanites. Even the first track, translated as "Take Another Toke" is a desperate attempt to expand their market base. Just because it's sung in Hindi doesn't make it cool.

It's annoying that Kronos has gone from offbeat, cutting-edge projects - like recording Lutoslawski String Quartets, the music of modern Chinese composers, and daring to perform monoliths of the Twentieth Century like Crumb's Black Angels - to just plain stupid. I thought they were doing well at challenging fans of traditional western music, and enlisting new audiences. This project goes too far.