Eclectic ETHEL Debuts Original Score at Williamstown Film Festival

Robots and Ghouls at MoCA for an Evening of Intergalactic Love
By: Caleb Hiliadis - Nov 02, 2009
For most people the words string quartet conjure up images of fin de siecle powdered wigs and fancy formal dress black tie events. But that was then, this is now. We live in the 21st-century and classical instrumentation and its players are undergoing radical changes. Musicians are no longer playing just your favorite Beethoven or Brahms concertos and symphonies in concert halls, they are playing everywhere, updating their instruments and bending the rules. The only thing that hasn't changed is the seriousness with which they approach their music.
Contemporary musicians now dabble with amplification and effects processing, constantly pushing the limits of convention. New York's ETHEL is a perfect example of this progressive edge whose theories on music run a similar track to Seattle's famous Kronos Quartet and, like them, explore a surprisingly wide range of interests.
We experienced the absolute magic of ETHEL at Mass MoCA on Friday the 30th as they reved us up for Halloween with two films showcased as part of the Williamstown Film Festival (WFF). The band - which is description they prefer to string quartet - is comprised of Dorothy Lawson on the cello, Mary Rowell and Cornelius Dufallo on violins, with Ralph Farris on viola. We had an interesting discussion with violist Farris last week.
For Friday's screening of Ship of Monsters and live sound track performance, audience members were encouraged to dress in costume. Before the screening began, a contest was held picking the three most creative. The characters ranged from Billy Jean to Shrek and even a cardboard robot, who won because he fit so perfectly with the theme of the evening. The winners received prizes including a pass to next year's Williamstown Film Festival.
Adding to the evenings fun a short animated film from the UK called This Way Up was shown before the main event. The fast rising British animation artists Smith & Foulkes were responsible for the treat. This Way Up was a ghoulishly humorous film following the mishaps of a father and son duo who carry a coffin to hell and back. There's a backstory, too. The artists were brought together by Brian Eno in the 90's, a fortunate marriage for both them and the lovers of animation.
The short was full of laughs and surprises. Still, nothing could adequately prepare the audience for the outright whackiness of the featured film.
After a short introduction, the four members of ETHEL walked on stage dressed in Western garb which included cowboy shirts, Stetson boots and Hopalong Cassidy Hats. As the lights dimmed, they instantly dug into the score's main theme which bopped along in a Masada-ish way (they have experience playing the works of John Zorn) and continued plucking as the film reel began to roll.
Their movie of choice carries the awkward title of La Nave de Los Monstruos which translates to English as The Ship of the Monsters. Its opening scene makes an attempt to be seriously philosophical, flashing phrases like "the atom" and "the universe" over static images of the moon, protons and neutrons.
Players Ralph and Dorothy poked fun at this by whispering "espacio" anytime space was shown. During the middle of the film a man is shown fixing one of the props, which probably should have been included in an outtakes reel but was welcomed as hilarious.
In spite of the film's low-budget origins, the carefully crafted musical accompaniment lifted the movie itself to a whole new plateau. The playing was smooth and spellbinding, contrasting with the somewhat jerky ups-and-downs of the film. The players were having fun, and their score allowed for improvisation at pivotal points.
The performance was so perfectly continuous that it was nearly impossible to tell what was written and what was being influenced directly by the film in real time. This group just flows, period.
At times, ETHEL's process of developing their film score meandered away from the customary Hollywood path. They created their themes and concepts both as a group and individually, working off of ideas that come to them spur of the moment, often leading to major developments.
They then were able to weave complex emotions from these themes, some of which were frightening at times while elastic and bubbly at others. They have a keen understanding of contrasting sounds and played up the juxtaposition of their music against the film's original score.
The group decided early on not to make the film silent because the original track contained far too many interesting sounds. The film had a spoken Spanish soundtrack with subtitles. Unfortunately, it also contained two lengthy Mexican songs. These were found to be problematic in that they didn't fully capture an American audience's attention.
In the end, ETHEL's solution was to have cellist Dorothy choreograph a group dance for the audience which was great the first time, but when repeated only half the crowd made the effort, they had already "been there and done that."
As is the norm at all Williamstown Film Festival screenings, there was an up close and personal talkback following the picture. For this, the ETHEL musicians laid down their instruments and conversed about the process with WFF's Executive Director Steve Lawson. The discussion was opened to the audience as well.
Among the things discussed were the fact that ETHEL has been on the scene for a decade now and they have no intention of slowing down. All of them are Julliard Alums though they only came together as a group after graduation.
The group is in its fifth year as the string quartet in residence for the Native American Composers Apprenticeship Project (NACAP). This endeavor is their passion, bringing music and composition skills to Native American teens and children living on reservations.
The quartet has worked with Sheryl Crow, Yo-Yo Ma and Ornette Coleman and "hope to soon work with Sting and Paul McCartney," they said, mildly joking. With a group as dynamic and inventive as ETHEL, even they can't be entirely certain what lies ahead on the horizon.
Anyone who has seen a movie with and without its music will admit that a great score makes all the difference. There's nothing better than a film with excellent accompaniment and there's nothing greater than music being literally created in front of you, where you can feel a part of the universal vibration.
"I get to play music for people! What could be better?" Said Ralph in our interview with him earlier this week, "It's all about the journey for us, and that journey is a blast." We hope to see more of ETHEL at MoCA, possibly for a Bang On A Can appearance in the future as they continue their leadership role in the realm of enlightened contemporary music.
Another - and similar - event to be held at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art is ZviDance: Zoom. This unusual program will look at both the evolution of dance and the advancement of technologies. The advance blurb says Zoom "will reflect on how hand held devices have become a driving force for human interactivity, and simultaneously, how these devices create a sense of alienation. Zoom "will explore how distinguishing between reality and fantasy becomes increasingly difficult in a world saturated with representations." Audience members are encouraged to take photos and send them directly to a visual designer who then materializes real time feeds to an on stage screen.
This unique experience can never happen again in the same way. It is scheduled for Saturday, December 12th. Visit the Mass MoCA site for more information. http://www.massmoca.org/