Pathology of Syntax (2007)
(for string quartet)

Much of the gestural language in this 16–minute string quartet alludes to Beethoven’s Opus 135. The expressive musical gestures often dissolve into their physicality of bowing, plucking, scraping and brushing materials such as hair, wood, and metal, suggesting a more materialist orientation to Beethoven’s musical language. The “pathology of syntax” refers to the damage and corruption of readily understood expressive information to allow for an unexpected musical language to emerge.