By Marc Geelhoed
Enquirer contributor

OXFORD - With a casual dress code and rock band lighting, the stage was set for a different kind of music making Tuesday at Miami University's Hall Auditorium: The Kronos Quartet was on campus for a concert of Mexican and Russian music.

"El Sinaloense" and "Se Me Hizo Facil," from the group's latest CD, Nuevo, failed to ignite the show, despite superb technique.

All arrangements either electronically altered the quartet's sound or made them play with pre-recorded music.

Stephen Prutsmans' arrangement of Revueltas' "Sensemaya" provided the needed spark, with its relentless, lunging melody.

But the highlight of the first half was "12/12," which requires Kronos to interact with street and crowd sounds, with heart-wrenching results.

The premiere of Vladimir Martynov's "Folk Dance" was the featured work. Kudos to the university's Havighurst Center for Russian and Post-Soviet Studies and its Performing Arts Series for undertaking the commission, but the premiere was disappointing. The piece is ostensibly about the essence of folk cultures, without regard to nationality, but no culture is as static as this work.

The 20-minute piece is in three sections. A rustic figure in the viola and cello was endlessly repeated while the violinist's phrases scampered about, long after the point had been made.

"Folk Dance" finishes after repeating short, lyrical patterns in the violins, viola and cello, and then the entire quartet, again and again, until there is no surprise. Great works reveal their secrets over time and repeated listening; this one gave them all up Tuesday night.

An emotional encore of the meditative "Sleepwalker" ended a great ride through two cultures.