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Fabric for String Noise on CD

Michael Byron's title piece, "Fabric for String Noise," performed by NYC's String Noise (violinists Conrad Harris and Pauline Kim Harris, deemed "New York's most daring violin duo" by "TimeOut New York"), is a wildly virtuosic two-movement work, wherein intense continuous activity shares space with an overarching sense of motionlessness. The composer characterizes it as a "sound object... marked by extreme polyrhythmic complexity and intricate contrapuntal textures." Closing the album is the rich texture of Byron's double bass quartet "Dragon Rite," performed by James Bergman, in which are heard occasional quarter-tone inflections as the piece slowly surges and ebbs. Critic Julian Cowley, writing recently for "The Wire," called Michael Byron "one of those contemporary composers who can justifiably be classed as crucial."