Cicada larvae live underground for years, creeping about slowly and peacefully in the darkness until that sudden, beautiful brief moment when, one warm, damp summer’s eve, they emerge, metamorphosed into a highly mobile life form. Gaily they dance in the sunshine, singing ardently to the trees in all their greenery — but only for a short while, for, just as suddenly, they are gone. The same process repeats year upon year. The "life cycle” of this string quartet resembles that of the cicada. Init...