He has collaborated frequently with the alt-classical string quartet Ethel, for whom he composed Blue Room and Other Stories in 2002. The title is a nod to Victorian-era ghost stories, and the music is similarly mysterious, migrating through a range of churning textures and drawn-out harmonies. This movement brings out the darker side of the tarantella, a manic dance that supposedly arose in Italy as a way to ward off the effects of a tarantula’s poisonous bite.