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Ruth Crawford Seeger: Chamber Works
Ruth Crawford Seeger, Ensemble Adventure
Ruth Crawford Seeger: Chamber Works
Genre: Classical
 
  •  Track Listings (27) - Disc #1

Ruth Crawford (1901-1953) became the wife of musicologist-composer Charles Seeger and was stepmother to the folk singer Pete Seeger. These events distracted her from composing, and she was not very prolific. The works here...  more »

     
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CD Details

All Artists: Ruth Crawford Seeger, Ensemble Adventure
Title: Ruth Crawford Seeger: Chamber Works
Members Wishing: 0
Total Copies: 0
Label: Cpo Records
Release Date: 5/16/2000
Genre: Classical
Styles: Chamber Music, Forms & Genres, Concertos, Historical Periods, Classical (c.1770-1830)
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 761203967025

Synopsis

Amazon.com
Ruth Crawford (1901-1953) became the wife of musicologist-composer Charles Seeger and was stepmother to the folk singer Pete Seeger. These events distracted her from composing, and she was not very prolific. The works here are written for such diverse scorings as solo oboe, bassoon and cello, or two clarinets, as well as more conventional groupings like string quartet and wind quintet. The music is flinty hard in its character, terse and knotty. Seven complete works fit into the disc's 63 minutes, and one suspects they are so short because their idiom is so difficult and unmelodic. There is a real musical mind at work here, most easily appreciated in the "Suite for Wind Quintet," which opens the disc. And the performers all seem to be deeply involved in the music, which they play with expression and verve. Many listeners will find Seeger a tough nut, but the adventurous will appreciate her individual voice and musical bravery. The disc's price does invite experimentation. --Leslie Gerber

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CD Reviews

Great album of hard-to-find works
pk001h | 06/22/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)

"This record is an excellent compilation of Ruth Crawford Seeger's works-- many of which were not included on the recent Deutsche Gramaphon collection of her works. Especially of interest are the Diaphonic Suites (4) which show off both the virtuosity of the composer and the instrumentalists. Also of interest are the unpublished suites nos. 1 and 2, which I have never seen before on recordings.This is certainly a worthwhile investment for anyone interested in this composer, women composers, American music, and early experimental music. Absolutely worth the price!"
Amazing music for its time
J Scott Morrison | Middlebury VT, USA | 01/22/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)

"The point about this music is not that it's by a woman, but that it's marvelous music, ahead of its time, and that it's so wonderfully and lovingly played on this cpo disc. Ruth Crawford Seeger essentially gave up composing after she married and started a family; she joined her husband in collecting and publishing American folk music. She came back to composing toward the very end of her life and her powers were undiminished. Most of this music is new to me. I had known and loved the String Quartet, and that's why I bought the CD. But the other music is interesting, moving, challenging as well, and one couldn't ask more from the performers who are universally excellent.One last thing: the technical explanations of the music in the CD liner notes might tend to intimidate. But the music itself is so musical, so engaging that the technical matters take a back seat to the experience of listening."