American Voices Pacifica Quartet featuring Uniting Voices and Josephine Lee

• Antonín Dvořák (1841 - 1904): String Quartet in F Major, Op. 96, “American”:
• 1 Dvořák: String Quartet in F Major, Op. 96, “American”: I. Allegro ma non troppo 09:53
• 2 Dvořák: String Quartet in F Major, Op. 96, “American”: II. Lento 07:48
• 3 Dvořák: String Quartet in F Major, Op. 96, “American”: III. 03:53
• 4 Dvořák: String Quartet in F Major, Op. 96, “American”: IV. Finale: vivace ma non troppo 05:42
• Florence Price (1887 - 1953): String Quartet in G major:
• 5 Price: String Quartet in G major: I. Allegro 09:31
• 6 Price: String Quartet in G major: II. Andante moderato – Allegretto 07:08
• Louis Gruenberg (1884 - n.a.): Four Diversions for String Quartet, Op. 32:
• 7 Gruenberg: Four Diversions for String Quartet, Op. 32: I. Allegro moderato 02:03
• 8 Gruenberg: Four Diversions for String Quartet, Op. 32: II. Moderato ed à capriccio 01:55
• 9 Gruenberg: Four Diversions for String Quartet, Op. 32: III. Andante moderato e delicato 02:56
• 10 Gruenberg: Four Diversions for String Quartet, Op. 32: IV. Allegro burlando 01:58
• James Lee III (b. 1975): Pitch In:
• 11 III: Pitch In 12:26
• Total Runtime 01:05:13

Info for American Voices

The multiple Grammy Award-winning Pacifica Quartet continues its highly acclaimed recording series that explores the sounds of America with an album comprising string quartets incorporating elements of American folk music and spirituals by Antonín Dvořák, Florence Price, and Louis Gruenberg, plus a new work by James Lee III.

Praised by The Telegraph as “nothing short of phenomenal,” Pacifica is known for its “remarkable expressive range and tonal beauty” (New York Times). With a career spanning nearly three decades, Pacifica has established itself as the embodiment of the senior American quartet sound.

Dvořák’s String Quartet in F Major, Op. 96, “American” draws influence from the colorful sonic world of his American experiences: from the American spiritual, 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 in G Major does not explicitly reference specific folk influences, the origins for many of her original melodies and musical 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 New York City when Dvořák served as director of the National Conservatory, wrote Four Diversions for String Quartet, Op. 32 infusing the traditional string quartet with the quintessential sounds and style of Prohibition-era America.

Praised by The Washington Post for his “bright, pure music,” James Lee III’s Pitch In for quartet and children’s choir — receiving its world premiere recording — features Chicago’s Uniting Voices conducted by Josephine Lee. The work incorporates American folk motifs and pentatonic scales echoing the essence of American Spirituals and Dvořák’s “American” Quartet. Pitch In is set to Sylvia Dianne Beverly’s poem of the same title that addresses global poverty and food insecurity, urging listeners to act.

In recognition of the subject of James Lee III’s work, 25% of the revenue from the first year of Cedille’s direct sales of CDs (i.e., through this website) of American Voices will be donated to the Greater Chicago Food Depository.

American Voices is the Pacifica Quartet’s 14th recording for Cedille Records, following their “extraordinary” (Strings) Grammy-nominated album, American Stories featuring clarinetist Anthony McGill. In their previous album, Contemporary Voices, winner of the 2021 Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance, “the Pacifica’s ensemble playing is of the highest standard” (BBC Music Magazine).

Pacifica Quartet
Uniting Voices
Josephine Lee, vocals

Produced and engineered by the Grammy-winning team of James Ginsburg and Bill Maylone
Recorded May 12–13, 2023 at Auer Hall at Indiana University Bloomington and January 23, 2024 at the Sasha and Eugene Jarvis Opera Hall (Gruenberg) and Gannon Concert Hall (Lee) at DePaul University in Chicago, IL.

Pacifica Quartet
With a career spanning nearly three decades, the multiple Grammy Award-winning Pacifica Quartet has achieved international recognition as one of the finest chamber ensembles performing today. The Quartet is known for its virtuosity, exuberant performance style, and often-daring repertory choices. Having served as quartet-in-residence at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music for the past decade, the Quartet also leads the Center for Advanced Quartet Studies at the Aspen Music Festival and School, and was previously the quartet-in-residence at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 2021, the Pacifica Quartet received a second Grammy Award for Contemporary Voices, an exploration of music by three Pulitzer Prize-winning composers: Shulamit Ran, Jennifer Higdon, and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich.

Formed in 1994, the Pacifica Quartet quickly won chamber music’s top competitions, including the 1998 Naumburg Chamber Music Award. In 2002 the ensemble was honored with Chamber Music America’s Cleveland Quartet Award and the appointment to Lincoln Center’s The Bowers Program (formerly CMS Two), and in 2006 was awarded a prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant. With its powerful energy and captivating, cohesive sound, the Pacifica has established itself as the embodiment of the senior American quartet sound.

The Pacifica Quartet has proven itself the preeminent interpreter of string quartet cycles, harnessing the group’s singular focus and incredible stamina to portray each composer’s evolution, often over the course of just a few days. Having given highly acclaimed performances of the complete Carter cycle in San Francisco, New York, Chicago, and Houston; the Mendelssohn cycle in Napa, Australia, New York, and Pittsburgh; and the Beethoven cycle in New York, Denver, St. Paul, Chicago, Napa, and Tokyo (in an unprecedented presentation of five concerts in three days at Suntory Hall), the Quartet presented the monumental Shostakovich cycle in Chicago, New York, Montreal, and at London’s Wigmore Hall. The Quartet has been widely praised for these cycles, with critics calling the concerts “brilliant,” “astonishing,” “gripping,” and “breathtaking.”

This album contains no booklet.