But Not My Soul

Price: String Quartet No. 2; Dvořák: String Quartet No. 12 ‘American’; Rhiannon Giddens: At the Purchaser’s Option (arr. Garchik)

Ragazze Quartet

Channel Classics CCS45724 60:00 mins There is much thoughtful and spirited playing to enjoy here. An introduction explains the motivation for the repertoire, which combines Florence Price and Dvořák with a number by Rhiannon Giddens (b. 1977) in an arrangement for string quartet.

Worthwhile recordings both stimulate pleasure and provoke thought, and the Ragazze have achieved this admirably. Price’s String Quartet No. 2 glows in their imaginative, richly coloured performance. The substantial, sultry Moderato alternates between tonal clarity and ambiguity, perfectly capturing the musical zeitgeist of the mid-1930s with its absorption of both retrospective and new art music trends. Juba, the third movement, has verve and cheek, and this energy is maintained through the closing movement.

The combination with Dvořák‘s sunny ‘American’ Quartet No. 12 reveals much about the Czech composer’s affinity with the spirit and music of 19th-century USA. The pentatonic, folk-inspired melodies evoke his admiration for African-american melodies. Dvořák’s structures can sprawl a little, so overall the performance could benefit from more direction, especially the second movement. I was most convinced by the Finale, where each of the movement’s moods is accorded a distinctive colour and voicing.

The closing number, ‘At the Purchaser’s Option’, evokes a 19th-century advertisement in which the purchase of an enslaved person’s baby was described as an optional extra. Arranged here by Jacob Garchik in 2017, this work shows the Ragazze’s wide stylistic range while gently underlining the album’s message about racially and musically entangled pasts. The recorded clarity is nicely clear, warm and detailed. Natasha Loges PERFORMANCE

RECORDING