A DUST IN TIME | ALLMUSIC.COM

4.5 STARS

- by James Manheim

Composer Huang Ruo's A Dust in Time originated during the early 2020s coronavirus pandemic and seems to have struck a chord among audiences. Though quite new, it has been performed several times in different places and different countries by the time of this release. The Del Sol Quartet members tell of a crowd gathering as they performed the work for some friends at a San Francisco park near the church where the present superbly recorded version was made. The work exists in a solo violin version as well as the one for string quartet heard here. About an hour long, A Dust in Time consists of 13 movements played without a break. They make up a set of variations, deepening and receding from an original theme; the form is palindromic and is inspired by both the Western passacaglia musical form and the Tibetan mandala visual art as the theme returns to its bones at the end. Huang intends the work as a meditation on the virus and the vast stretches of time against which it will come to seem insignificant: it is a dust in time. The material is modal, which carries a connotation of consolation from a contemporary perspective, and many listeners will find this remarkable work just that.