Program notes: Flared Tubings is dedicated to James MacDonald who requested the piece and to the memory of Robert Cecil. I came under the inspiring spell of Bob Cecil at Hope College where I was a student for my first two undergraduate years. Bob Cecil’s life was, as I see it, one of the most creative lives of anyone I’ve ever met. He was a professional hornist in the New York Philharmonic under Toscanini for a time and brought to Hope a wealth of culture from the Big Apple. In this quartet, I sought to create a propulsive musical energy that mirrored my mentor’s unique way of being. It’s a portrait of Robert Cecil in music.