Ethel

Bill Alves gave me this CD to listen to. Ethel is a New York-based string quartet dedicated to performing new music. On this album are works by John King, Phil Kline, Todd Reynolds, and Evan Ziporyn. I have not heard of any of these composers before this CD, but so far I really like the music. The pieces have high energy and rhythm and a variety of timbres and textures.

I have come up with a very sketchy outline to my 5 movement string quartet. Using my love of Yosemite as a unifying force, the first movement I imagine will harken to entering the Valley, perhaps for the first time. Second movement draws inspiration from music of the original inhabitants, the Mono Paiutes and Miwok people. Third movement, the firey tradition of the Firefall (a practice now abandoned, and rightly so). Fourth movement will have drones and feeling of Scottish music - the native land of John Muir. The final movement, a bookend to the first will contemplate the granite giants - El Capitan, Half Dome, and others. I am still thinking of keys / modes for the various movements.