Ruth Crawford Seeger: Chamber Works

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