An instant Fred classic, 'Happy End' presents two, related, small-ensemble works for 6 and 7 musicians respectively - mostly strings of one sort or another, with percussion, flute, clarinet and electronics. Fred, violinist Carla Kilsteht and percussionist Willie Wynant play throughout providing continuity across the pieces, as the music constantly unfolds into new textures and dialects. Melody, harmony and rhythm are omnipresent, though not always obviously colluding, and the music moves with a constant assurance, never hesitating and never marking time. The necessity and simplicity of these pieces conceals a catalogue of experimental techniques and novel ideas - there are those who'd have squeezed a score of albums from this material.