Gloria Coates was born in Wisconsin and began composing at an early age. Her string quartets are a unique combination of her love of melting, indistinct textures impossible to pin down by ear, but also of symmetry manifested by canons, palindromes, and simple structures underpinning the swirling waves of sound. Quartet No. 7 evokes Christmas, while Quartet No. 8 is a memorial to those who died on 11th September. Quartet No. 4 suggests Bartók’s night-music in its slow movement and Quartet No. 3 makes much use of repeated patterns and slides. Quartets Nos. 1, 5 & 6 are recorded on 8.559091.