Editorial Review:

Amazon.com:
This second solo CD by the New York-based string quartet called Ethel is made up of twelve short pieces by nine composers. It is one of the most thoroughly entertaining collections I've heard this year. The energetic performances--rhythmically sharp, brave, and altogether involving--match the remarkable creativity of the composers. Just to single out a few: Marcelo Zavros' first piece, 'Arrival,' begins in a whirlwind, reminiscent of Adams' 'Shaker Loops' but soon travels in a different direction; Mary Rowell's 'Sambula' and 'Also Sprach Einstein' are deeply rooted in hillbilly, hoedown music (the latter even features the grey parrot who lives at the Knoxville Zoo and was winner of the Pet Star show on Animal Planet as well as Randy Crafton on whistle); against a tapping bow and pizzicato strings, Pamela Z's 'Ethel Dreams of Temporal Disturbances' features a warm woman's voice speaking quotes from Public TV ('This was made possible by the generosity of viewers like you'), an attempt to sing 'There's no business like show business' that keeps getting interrupted with a thud and other odd occurrences; Zavros' 'Sickness and Death' is a touching threnody; Mary Ellen Childs' 'After Dust' is a sultry tango. If all this sounds complicated or too strange, it isn't: it's a fun 54 minutes of music-making that's entertaining, bright, and new. Try it. --Robert Levine









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Disc 1:

1. Arrival (from Nepomuk's Dances)
2. Sambula
3. Lighthouse
4. Chai
5. Requiem
6. Pelimanni's Revenge
7. Ethel Dreams of Temporal Disturbances
8. Sickness and Death (from Nepomuk's Dances)
9. Memory (from Nepomuk's Dances)
10. After Dust (from Dream House)
11. #3 (from Four Thoughts on Marvin Gaye)
12. Also Sprach Einstein

Rating: - * Excellent ... This follow-Up to Ethel self-titled first CD is superb. Continues with it's inventive and enjoyable pace as well as superb performances. A real pleasure to listen to on a regular basis. It will alter what you think about contemporary classical music and make you think differently, not only about what you listen to here, but the music you listen to after this. A wonderful CD - try it - you'll like it Rating: - * Sorry, It just doesnt measure up. ... Their first album fully deserved the bold cover art. It was classical music with two big hairy nads. This album is an insipid rehash of tame and lame folk music. Its like when Todd left the group he took with it all the testosterone and innovation. Skip this one if you love the first. If you bought this one then you havent really heard Ethel yet. Get this one instead. Rating: - * Exciting and Weird! ... First class sound and performance, the music itself has many good moments mixed with many questionable ones! I like it for its originality and sound, and less for its content.