Ruth Crawford Seeger hit her creative stride in the late 1920s/early 1930s. The four Diaphonic Suites are essentially exercises in dissonant counterpoint, either real or implied. The lusher suites for piano and strings and five winds plus piano represent major steps en route to the tersely argued, landmark 1931 String Quartet, Crawford’s masterpiece. The Suite for Wind Quintet, completed not long before Crawford’s premature death from cancer, recaptures much of the composer’s erstwhile jagged style from a mellower vantagepoint. This disc fleshes out the well-rounded picture presented in Deutsche Grammophon’s 1997 Seeger compilation, and offers more ferocious, less outwardly elegant readings of the aforementioned Wind Quintet Suite and String Quartet. The performers play with admirable care, authority, and flexible musicianship, and are gorgeously recorded. What more can one ask? This is an important release that sheds valuable light on a fascinating figure in the annals of American 20th century music.
