To say that the Kronos Quartet's Nuevo is their most adventurous outing to date is hardly an understatement. This diverse collection of Mexican compositions and traditional tunes brims with an unpredictable energy and a dazzling array of Latin American guest performers, and, yes, Kronos keeps up throughout. A cocktail pop tune from Esquivel gets covered, there's a chamber arrangement of Revueltas's sprawling orchestral work Sensemaya, and Nortec Collective member Plankton Man remixes Kronos's interpretation of "El Sinaloense" into a sizzling dance music track, which closes the disc. The playing is spirited, to say the least (just check out "El Llorar," with guest vocalists Alejandro Flores and Efren Vargas). But this is foremost a party record. A bevy of reverb effects and instrumentation (including a squeaky musical leaf solo on "Perfidia") ensures that things stay unpredictable. Production work by Rock en Espanol producer Gustavo Santaolalla infuses this disc with an edgy modernism. The bulk of these compositions have been arranged by composer Osvaldo Golijov, who seemingly brings a manic energy and a playfulness to everything he touches. Chamber music purists may scoff, but the rest of us will be busy dancing and thrilling to this exciting, genre-blurring Kronos project. --Jason Verlinde

With 'Nuevo' - a project based entirely around Mexican composers, musical traditions and influences - the Kronos Quartet have delivered one of the most striking group odysseys to date. Produced by Gustavo Santaolalla, both an authority on Latin American art music as well as the most in-demand producers of rock en espanol, the album also features a host of guest artists from both the concert hall as well as the streets of Mexico. Housed in a slipcase. 2002.