The Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective has set a goal of performing works by groups underrepresented in the concert repertory, but even so, this album of largely little-known music is a bold choice for the group's debut album. Florence B. Price, both African American and female, is represented by a Piano Quintet in A minor that here apparently receives its world-recorded premiere. It's an attractive work with touches of the African American folk influences characteristic of Price's work; listen to the "Juba" third movement. ...
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The Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective has set a goal of performing works by groups underrepresented in the concert repertory, but even so, this album of largely little-known music is a bold choice for the group's debut album. Florence B. Price, both African American and female, is represented by a Piano Quintet in A minor that here apparently receives its world-recorded premiere. It's an attractive work with touches of the African American folk influences characteristic of Price's work; listen to the "Juba" third movement. The most striking performance here is of the Piano Quintet in F sharp minor, Op. 67, of Amy Beach. This work has been recorded with more sheer virtuoso power in the past, but the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective captures its particular mood especially well. The work is Brahmsian in its harmonies and structural thinking, but it has a bit of weariness and mystery that place it firmly in the first decade of the 20th century when it was written. These works frame Samuel Barber's Dover...
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