For the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity's Evolution: Quartet 2022

Played by the Uxor Quartet

Rather

In a cross-tuning of 84-tone equal temperament and 13-limit just intonation.

Amélie Berson, flute
Phoebe Bognár, bass flute
Mireia Pellisa Martín, alto saxophone
Thierry Madiot, bass trombone
Carlo Sampaolesi, accordion
Félix Lacquement, electric guitar
Paola Aviles, harp
María Alejandra Jiménez, violin
Adèle Viret, cello

Commissioned by GMEA – Centre National de Création Musicale d’Albi-Tarn. Recorded live at the Athanor in Albi, France on August 6, 2022  by Benjamin Maumus – GMEA's sound engineer.

Commande du GMEA – Centre National de Création Musicale d’Albi-Tarn. Enregistrement à l’Athanor à Albi le 6 août 2022 et mixage par Benjamin Maumus – ingénieur du son du GMEA.

Nocturne (2022) for harp, electric guitar and ensemble

Single from my forthcoming album "Things of Little Consequence"

“...was It This That Came First...” (trio)

Premiered by Ensemble Offset (sonic space Basel) on March 27th, 2023 at the Museum-Tinguely Basel, Switzerland; written for the Musik-Akademie Basel and Museum-Tinguely.

Mixed and mastered by Isaac Roth Blumfield.

Quondam, Apparatus (2023) - for Amplified Ensemble, Transducers, and Tinguely Machine

I Dream Of Alluvium

(BE)NEATH (2016)

Original Program Notes:

I have been drawn to miniatures as of late because they seem only ever more true to life. A series of moments, some beautiful, some vexing, all begging for an explanation as to their meaning and arrangement. The catch is, whatever “meaning” we may find, wish for, or declare, is but a superimposition of our own making. Our stories about ourselves or our lives, as interesting as they may be, sit atop a bedrock of meaninglessness, incoherence, and dissatisfaction.

In music, meaning has always felt elusive to me. Instead, this search is often substituted for an adjudication of rule following, norms, or living up to particular musical expectations. These pieces come awfully close to suggesting ‘normal’ musical behaviors, and yet fall short of offering satiety in that respect. Miniatures, on account of their brevity, frustrate musical expectations that one might long for. They cannot really be said to undergo any kind of development, repetition becomes either difficult (or gratuitous), and often they suggest participation in a whole that is maddeningly difficult to demarcate.

In listening to these pieces, consider that, of all the great human qualities, fighting that bedrock of dissatisfaction is one of the most inextinguishable. Such is life.

I. Sinfonia
II. Liturgical Song
III. Romancero
IV. Popular Song
V. Finale Ultimo

Five Miniatures

A new version for acoustic guitar and viola with a stronger focus on 11-limit tuneable sonorities.
Plainsound Music Edition 2019

Rather

Ethan Hill

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