Woodland Songs
Pura Fé Crescioni (b. 1959)
Rattle Songs (orch. Jerod Impichcha̱achaaha’ Tate)
Jerod Impichcha̱achaaha’ Tate (b. 1968)
Woodland Songs
Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904)
String Quartet No. 12 “American” (1893)
Dover Quartet
rec. 2024/2025, Gould Rehearsal Hall, Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia, USA
Platoon PLAT28050 [59]
This is an fascinating programme: two works written by Native American composers and one of the most loved works for string quartet, inspired in part (apparently) by Native American music. I should say at this point that I wasn’t sure which term was currently “correct”: Native American, American Indian or First Nation – so consulted the booklet, only to find all three used, seemingly interchangeably. So I will stick with the former.
Pura Fé Crescioni’s heritage is given in the booklet as Tuscarora, Taino, Black and Scottish, the first, native people from northeastern USA & Canada, and the second from the Caribbean. She is a singer, songwriter and founder of the Native American a capella group Ulali. In Rattle Songs, she brought together songs from a number of Native American Nations, and incorporated shell shaking percussion. In orchestrating the songs for the Dover Quartet, Jerod Impichcha̱achaaha’ Tate acknowledged the importance of the percussion, but did not attempt to specifically recreate the sound. Nevertheless, the striking rhythms (pun intended) are what drive the seven pieces. They are short, contrasting and thoroughly enjoyable.
Jerod Impichcha̱achaaha’ Tate’s Woodland Songs are original works, written for the Dover Quartet, blending the music of Tate’s Chickasaw heritage into contemporary Western classical music. The five movements are impressionstic images of woodlands animals important to the Chickasaw people: squirrel, woodpecker, deer, fish and raccoon. The first two were as one might expect – constant quivering movement for the squirrel, repetitive striking for the woodpecker – and were quite effective. I was less enthused by the next two. I was somewhat bemused in the Deer movement by the extended, dissonant chord sequence that comprised the last minute; the only thought I had was that perhaps it was the animal’s death throes after being struck down in a hunt, while I expected the Fish to be more sinuous and smooth. Being from the southern hemisphere, I had little or no idea how a raccoon behaves, so the final movement left me with the impression of nervous energy and quick movements. What did rather surprise me was the ending which sounded like a barn dance. I don’t know whether raccoons participate in such activities, but it did provide a good lead-in to the Dvořák (I’m being facetious, of course; undoubtedly the Chickasaw music that Tate drew upon influenced American folk music). There are a lot of harmonies that feel unfamiliar to Western-attuned ears, some which I’d describe as dissonant, though perhaps that isn’t the correct technical term.
You will undoubtedly have your favourite version of the “American” Quartet: mine is that by the Sacconi Quartet (review), but I also have recordings by the Lindsay, Alexander and Pavel Haas Quartets. The Sacconi’s reading is a beautiful one, by which I mean poetic, rounded and gentle, and with a duration of 28:16, the slowest of the five in my collection. The Dover Quartet’s version could not be more different, evident without a note being played by taking three minutes less than the Sacconi’s. From the outset, it is edgy, driven and in places, quite aggressive. It is to the credit of the group that this tempo does not obscure the detail, some of which, especially that from the cello, is quite illuminating. I have no doubt that hearing the Dover Quartet play this live would be an exhilarating experience, but listening to it in the solitude of one’s living room, it might become a little too much – certainly that’s how it affected me. It should be noted that this approach to the “American” Quartet does align very nicely with the two works that precede it, which have plenty of edge to them, harmonically and rhythmically.
The sound quality is very good – no sniffs or similar extraneous sounds – and the booklet notes are fairly helpful, though I would have liked to have known a little more about the individual traits of the animals that influenced the composition of Woodland Songs. The Dover Quartet play with exemplary control, coping with the unfamiliar rhythms through the first two works.
This is an intriguing programme with a startling performance of the Dvořák. The Platoon label doesn’t release physical CDs; another issue I reviewed recently seemed to have a streaming-only presence, but this one is also available to download. Anyway, you can dip into these works at your leisure on the platform of your choice, and without cost. I’m sure you will find plenty to enjoy.
David Barker
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