Ragazze Quartet
Ragazze Quartet plays both classical and modern string quartet repertoire: inspired and on the highest level. With attractive but unconventional programmes the quartet has come to be one of the most fresh and leading voices in the world of classical music.
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08.03.24
String Quartets of Florence Price and Rhiannon Giddens

The time has come! Today, on International Women’s Day, we release our new album ‘But Not My Soul’. The album features works by two African-American women: composer Florence Price’s 1935 Second String Quartet and singer-songwriter and composer Rhiannon Giddens’ 2016 song ‘At the purchaser’s option’, arranged for string quartet. We have (of course) been playing works by female composers at concerts with great regularity for years, but this is our first album featuring two works by a woman. It is an album with America as its focus: it also includes the famous ‘American’ string quartet by Antonín Dvořák. The album is released by our label Channel Classics/Outhere. From 6 April, we will tour major Dutch concert halls around the album’s release.

 

With this album, we want to contribute to the fame of Florence Price, whose Second String Quartet we discovered only recently.  Why didn’t we know this work, we wondered. Probably because she was a female and African-American composer in the first half of the last century who, despite successes in her time, was not included in the canon of classical music. The album also features Rhiannon Giddens’ heartbreaking song ‘At the purchaser’s option’, which addresses the suffering so many African-American women have experienced throughout history as a result of slavery. It completes our ‘American’ album and is also a tribute to all women in slavery, then and now, in fear of losing their child. We are releasing our new album on International Women’s Day to reflect on the struggle, strength and extraordinary talents of these women.

 

Today’s focus track is Rhiannon Giddens’ ‘At the purchaser’s option’. The title of our album comes from the lyrics of her original song: At the purchaser’s option

 

For more information about the release concert on April 6th or for concerts in your neighbourhood, see But Not My Soul or the concert calendar. CDs can be bought after these concerts or ordered from ragazze@ragazzequartet.nl.

 

You can also listen to the album online via your favourite streaming channel. Also check out our trailer.