Placeless

Given the track record of Kronos Quartet and Iranian singers Mahsa & Marjan Vahdat, it's not surprising that this is a powerful and arresting disc. It's also part of a bigger Kronos Quartet plan to highlight music from the seven Muslim-majority nations affected by president Trump's US travel ban. Its title come from a poem by the 13th-century Persian poet Rumi, which says ‘ I am not from the East, nor from the West. I am not from the land, nor from the sea. I am not from the world, not from beyond. My place is placelessness. My trace is tracelessness.’

Most of the 14 songs are sung solo by one of the sisters, but three are sung together. It's lovely the way their voices take over from each other in ‘The Sun Rises’. Needless to say, with just the four stringed instruments and solo voices the textures are clear and transparent. Sometimes, as in the previous example, the quartet creates an acoustic backdrop for the singers. While in ‘My Ruthless Companion’ the strings create a lively harmonic and rhythmic background and in ‘Leyli's Nightingales’ they evoke the birds. One of the most haunting songs is ‘Vanishing Lines’, sung by Mahsa with its phrases like falling sighs. All the song melodies are composed by her.

The lyrics are by the classic poets Rumi and Hafez, as well as three contemporary writers. There are translations in the booklet. The recording was made in Oslo's Kulturkirken Jakob and there's a rich, sonorous bloom to the sound. This is one of Kronos' best collaborations and that's saying something.