Sam Reising
|
December 3, 2015

ETHEL Celebrates Women Composers

Sam Reising
|
December 3, 2015

ETHEL Celebrates Women Composers

Sam Reising
|
December 3, 2015

ETHEL Celebrates Women Composers

Aria by Paola Prestini, one of the founders of National Sawdust, followed. The music is reflexive of the title. Slow moving counterpoint anchored by a simple motif permeated the quartet, and the quartet was, for the first time in the evening, given a chance to really sing. Throughout Aria, ETHEL demonstrated their extreme dexterity, so on-point that one could imagine one was listening to a recording rather than a live performance. ETHEL’s immaculate playing was a theme throughout the entire evening. Contrasting with the meditative quality of Prestini’s piece was Missy Mazzoli’s fast-paced Quartet for Queen Mab. The piece begins with a motif filled with grace notes and embellishment. This first idea grows outward until it fills the accompaniment, though at times the embellishment idea finds its way into the foreground as the accompaniment grounds itself in a groove.

Read full article >