Cover design by Jim Campbell; sound engineered by Jeff Cline.

The Ceruti Quartet - Susan Waterbury and Susanna Perry Gilmore, violins; Lenny Schranze, viola; Peter Spurbeck, ‘cello.

Quartet #1, “Brieflets”

…is a set of four concise snapshots of commonplace human situations, each the result of some emotional state.  All - excepting the second - include an element of humor. Audio excerpts and sheet music are here.

I. Fidgeting  - An audience member, racked with boredom, struggles to get comfortable in his seat (perhaps during this piece...), and is only occasionally engaged by sounds from the stage.

II. Mourning  - A child grieves for a lost pet. 

III. Badgering  - A woman, frustrated by her husband's inattentiveness, whines and nags.  The man, from behind his newspaper, responds mostly with grunts.  They eventually become mired in an inconclusive argument. 

IV. Panicking  - An earnest and very nervous young musician waits for an audition. 

Quartet #2, the “Nautical”

Audio excerpts and sheet music are here.

I. Pegleg  - He is in charge, but he's a buffoon and not generally an attractive guy.  He's unkempt, the wooden leg is not quite long enough, and he stinks of grog. 

II. Adrift - Becalmed, captured, quietly rather than violently, by the forces of nature. Though an eerie silence generally prevails, from time to time the sea offers subtle hints that the sailors are not alone.

III. Great White - The dangers to this ship of fools are obvious now. Seas are rough and it is not a good time to fall overboard. The dorsal fins circling the ship make it clear that even if the crew survives, it will not be because the sea has any respect for their efforts or their captain's swagger.

Quartet #3, the “Automotive”

A somewhat cynical tribute to cars (and one bulldozer) named for animals, presumably so that some of the mystique of that animal would help to sell the product. Audio excerpts and sheet music are here.

I. Impala - My target here, named for a swift and graceful antelope of central Africa, is the heavy, long, big horsepower, wide-wheelbase American family sedan... essentially interchangeable with any similar model by other manufacturers, including most station wagons.

II. Caterpillar - This is actually a trademark for continuous metal tracks powered by toothed wheels, used for moving over rough or muddy ground, as in a bulldozer; it is also the name of a company that makes these and other large construction vehicles.

III. Beetle - This stilted waltz is my homàge to the original Volkswagon, the car so homely it was cute, the car regarded so fondly by its legions of owners, proud of their thrift and eschewal of comfort, that they gave it a name: the Bug, or Beetle.

IV. Jaguar - This movement is a lament, concerned more with the living jaguar of the western tropics (Panthera onca) than the handmade British personal luxury car. The jaguar is a solitary animal of the tropical forest, and, like all the big cats, has not benefited from the encroachments of humans.

V. Mustang - Introduced in 1964, the Ford Mustang started out as a light, sporty, economical car of innovative design. Within 5 years it had been corrupted into a gas-guzzling muscle car, ugly, but capable of speeds well in excess of anything sensible.