Catalyst Quartet: UNCOVERED Vol. 2: Florence B. Price
Azica Records

A terrific follow-up to the inaugural set featuring the music of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Catalyst Quartet's second volume in its UNCOVERED series is devoted to the music of Florence B. Price (1887-1953). A third is scheduled to follow, with works by Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, William Grant Still, and George Walker. The series is important for many reasons, first and foremost for bringing newfound attention to historically important Black composers who, through the efforts of artists such as Catalyst Quartet, are today receiving the renewed appreciation their works deserve.

Recent times have witnessed a resurgence of interest in the music of the Arkansas-born Price. Though she had a troubled domestic life (Thomas, her husband, was abusive, even once threatening her with a gun, before their 1931 divorce), she achieved great things, as a gifted organ and piano student at the New England Conservatory, as head of the music department at Clark Atlanta University, and in her accomplishments as a composer. As profiles of Price typically note, she holds the distinction of being the first African-American woman to have a composition performed by a major orchestra, specifically her Symphony No. 1 (which had earlier won first prize in a competition) by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1933. There was pain in her life, but the music she created is anything but downtrodden. Joy comes through as vividly as melancholy, and the occasional appearance of the African-American Juba dance speaks to that life-embracing dimension.

This collection devoted to her six known string quartet and piano quintet works highlights much that is appealing about her music, its deft fusion of classical and folk music forms, its melodic richness, and masterful craft, for starters. Four pieces are world premiere recordings, making the release a valuable addition to the Price recordings currently available, and enhancing its allure, pianist Michelle Cann performs with the quartet on the quintet works. As a champion of the composer's music, Cann is an excellent choice of pianist for the project. She gave the NYC and Philadelphia premieres of Price's Concerto in One Movement and also has performed her works for solo piano and chamber ensemble with many groups. And like Catalyst Quartet, she's a strong advocate for composers whose works have been neglected and underappreciated.

Adding to the volume's appeal, Negro Folksongs in Counterpoint and Five Folksongs in Counterpoint provide an irresistibly charming partner to the more formal classical character of the other settings. The former clothes four traditional pieces in wondrous new garb. From a stirring treatment of “Go down Moses” to the effervescence of “Little David play on yo harp,” each part oozes splendour. As ear-catching is Five Folksongs in Counterpoint for its resplendent renderings of “Oh my darlin' Clementine,” “Drink to me only with thine eyes,” and the sweetly singing “Swing low, sweet chariot.” Hearing spirituals and folk tunes alongside material more grounded in the classical tradition makes the collection all the more absorbing.

Even in a work as formally conceived as the Quintet in A minor for Piano and Strings, Price's inimitable gift for melody comes through, in the lyrically expressive “Allegro non troppo” with which it begins, for example, but also in the three movements that follow. The tender theme in the opening movement might have you thinking of Brahms, but in the material's seamless melding of folk and classical Dvorák's present too. Whereas the touching “Andante con moto” conveys longing, the spirited “Juba” and “Scherzo” are lighter in tone. The four-movement String Quartet in A minor is marked by melodic invention and a tonal range that extends from wistful and ruminative (the fifteen-minute “Moderato”) to plaintive (“Andante cantabile”) and rousing (“Juba”). Only two movements from the “Unfinished” String Quartet in G Major appear, but it's memorably distinguished by the graceful “Allegro” and sultry “Andante moderato.” Concluding the collection is the “Possibly Unfinished” Quintet for Piano and Strings, its three parts as zestful, moving, and melodically abundant as anything else on the release.

March 2022