The Pacifica Quartet explores the sounds of America with an album comprising string quartets incorporating elements of American folk music and spirituals by Dvořák, Price, and Gruenberg, plus a new work by James Lee III.
Dvořák’s "American" Quartet draws influence from the colorful sonic world of his American experiences: from the Spiritual and indigenous folk songs to sounds evocative of American songbirds and rhythms reminiscent of American trains.
Florence Price was inspired by Dvořák’s focus on American folk music in his “New World” Symphony, and while her String Quartet No. 1 does not explicitly reference specific folk influences, the origins for many of her original melodies and colors can be traced directly to the folk songs that she heard in her native Little Rock, Arkansas.
Louis Gruenberg, influenced by his time as a student in NYC when Dvořák served as director of the National Conservatory, wrote Four Diversions, Op. 32 infusing the traditional string quartet with the quintessential sounds and style of Prohibition-era America.
James Lee III’s Pitch In for quartet and children’s choir features Chicago’s Uniting Voices conducted by Josephine Lee. The work incorporates folk motifs and pentatonic scales echoing the essence of Spirituals and Dvořák’s “American” Quartet. Pitch In is set to a Sylvia Dianne Beverly poem that addresses poverty and food insecurity, urging listeners to act.