condition (records/cover): M / M

Gatefold sleeve. Catalogue included

The first Riley album devoted to Kronos Quartet, and the document of one of late twentieth-century music's more consequential composer-performer partnerships. Recorded 21-23 October 1984 at Gramavision Studios, New York, digitally, mastered at Masterdisk. David Harrington had been after Riley for years to write for the quartet; this 2LP was the breakthrough.

Four pieces: Sunrise of the Planetary Dream Collector (1980), originally for Riley solo, here re-scored for quartet; G Song (1980), arranged from material in the Lifespan film score; Mythic Birds Waltz (1980); and the side-long Cadenza on the Night Plain (1983), dedicated to Dr. Margaret Lyon. The title piece uses just intonation tuning and 14-beat modular structures, with extensive performer choice over which modules to play. Kronos: Harrington, John Sherba (violins), Hank Dutt (viola), Joan Jeanrenaud (cello). Riley wrote more than a dozen further works for the quartet over the following decades.