Ragazze Quartet

Ragazze Quartet – But Not My Soul: Price, Dvořák & Giddens (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:00:51 minutes | 2,06 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Channel Classics

Ragazze Quartet perform works by two female composers Rhiannon Giddens (*1977) and Florence Price (1887-1953), combined with the ‘American’ String Quartet No.12 by Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904). Florence Price was the first African-American woman to be recognized for her symphonies, yet her music was forgotten for many years. Her String Quartet No.2 is a mix of European romanticism, her ‘Southern’ roots, the emerging blues and African-American spirituals. The title of the album derives from a song Rhiannon Giddens wrote after seeing a 19th-century advertisement for a 22-year-old female slave whose 9-month-old baby was also for sale, but ‘at the purchaser’s option’. One of the lines of the song is: “You can take my blood. But not my soul.” The string quartet arrangement was made by Jacob Garchik in 2016, commissioned by the Kronos Quartet’s ‘50 For The Future’ project. Ragazze Quartet: “This album is a tribute to composers who, despite opposition, have always remained true to their soul. Although our own souls may not directly be related to the work songs of African slaves, Czech folk music, or African-American spirituals, we want to contribute to making their voices, souls and music heard.”

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Ragazze Quartet – Česko (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:05:04 minutes | 588 MB | Genre: classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Channel Classics

On Česko we go on a musical journey across Europe to the extraordinary land of Bohemia (popularly known as Česko, but officially means Czech), the homeland of two composers we have come to love so much. It doesn’t seem to matter that we hardly know their country: the indescribable energy of the music, with its folk melodies and harmonies, revealing the essence of a nation steeped in a deep cultural history, takes us there instantly. These composers are the much celebrated and revered Antonín Dvořák, along with the younger and lesser-known Erwin Schulhoff, whose life and career was tragically cut short by the Nazi regime. Both were masters in harnessing the old to the new, fusing a rich musical heritage with the influence of new worlds. Their works take us through the full range of emotions, from the tranquil to the fiery, from the elated to the melancholic. A reflection of human life.

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Ragazze Quartet – Bartók Bound, Vol. 2: String Quartets Nos. 3, 5 & 6 (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:15:41 minutes | 2,49 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Channel Classics

After releasing String Quartets Nos. 1, 2 & 4 in 2019, the Ragazze Quartet now completes the Bartók Quartets cycle with Bartók Bound, Vol. 2 (String Quartets Nos. 3, 5 & 6).

Ragazze Quartet tells us: Five years ago, we declared ourselves Bartók Bound. In so doing, we committed ourselves for an unlimited period to the fascinating music of an assiduous and headstrong Hungarian.

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Ragazze Quartet – Bartók Bound – Vol. 1 (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:20:55 minutes | 2,54 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Channel Classics

It’s always a wonderful and thrilling experience to play Béla Bartók. It’s got everything: the mysterious tension of a thriller, loving lyricism, warm string sounds, almost impossible techniques challenging any string player to rediscover his instrument, and exhilarating rhythms which could well be rooted in folk dance. His music has fascinated us for years, so now we’ve decided to record all six string quartets.

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Ragazze Quartet – Vivere (2013)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:08:56 minutes | 656 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Channel Classics Records

This is ‘Vivere’. Not exactly a cheerful disc – all three compositions refer in various ways to death. This is reflected in the key (D minor is the key of death), in the opposite number of the Maiden, and finally even literally, in the fact that cellist Geneviève ‘dies’ before the end of the album. For us, however, to record this dramatic repertoire is to offer an ode to life. ‘Vivere’ – for by listening to this sombre music one realises how wonderful life can be. Performed by the Ragazze Quartet, four young women in the midst of life. The Ragazze Quartet is a young, Dutch string quartet, remarkable for its musical enthusiasm, talent, versatility and presentation. Its versatility in particular is unusual within the world of chamber music.

The quartet collaborates with and performs alongside composers, other musicians – classical or otherwise – and artists working in a variety of disciplines. In such projects the Ragazze Quartet always operates from its classical music core, while attempting to attain the ultimate crossover. The different disciplines are approached entirely equally, but in so doing they complement and elevate one another.

The quartet followed the two-year full-time curriculum of the Dutch String Quartet Academy (NSKA). There the members attended masterclasses directed by leading musicians from the international string quartet world, as well as lessons from their regular teachers Stefan Metz and Marc Danel. After completing the academy course the quartet was coached for a year by Luc Marie Aguera, violinist in the Quatuor Ysaye; this was made possible by the Dutch Kersjes Foundation.

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