Dover Quartet: Brahms, Pura Fé & Dvořák

Named one of the greatest string quartets of the last 100 years by BBC Music Magazine and “the next Guarneri Quartet” by the Chicago Tribune, the two-time Grammy-nominated Dover Quartet is one of the world’s most lauded chamber ensembles. Hailed as “meticulously balanced, technically clean-as-a-whistle and intonationally immaculate” (The Strad), the Dovers return to CMNW to kick off our 2026/27 Year-Round Season. The evening begins with Brahms’s gorgeous String Quartet No. 3, followed by American Indian composer Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate’s newest string quartet orchestration of Pura Fé’s—Indigenous activist, singer-songwriter, and storyteller—Rattle Songs, and Dvořák’s joyful String Quartet No. 11 serves as a fitting finale.

Flanagan Chapel, Lewis & Clark College
Wednesday, 10/28 • 7:30 pm

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Program

Click on any piece of music below to learn more about it.

BRAHMS String Quartet No. 3 in B-flat Major, Op. 67

BRAHMS String Quartet No. 3 in B-flat Major, Op. 67 (33’)
I. Vivace
II. Andante
III. Agitato – Allegro non troppo
IV. Poco Allegretto con variazioni

PURA FÉ Rattle Songs (Arr. Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate)

PURA FÉ Rattle Songs (2024) (15’)
(arranged for string quartet by Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate)
I. Shanoojhee
II. Viri Kuta
III. Haweheemo
IV. Grammah Easter’s Lullaby
V. For the Pepper (In Memory of Jim Pepper)
VI. Women’s Shuffle
VII. Great Grampah’s Banjo

Rattle Songs is a suite of compositions created by the Tuscarora vocalist, Pura Fé, for the ensemble Ulali. Pura Fé’s Tuscarora cousin, Jennifer Kreisberg, and Maya/Apache friend, Soni Moreno, are the other two vocalists of the group. In 1994, this Native trio made history when they released their album, Mahk Jchi (Our Hearts). This album is a unique work of genius, where Native songs are modernized through innovative arrangements and stunningly rich harmonies. Their work had a powerfully deep impact on my personal vision as a Native composer and I am privileged that they are my friends.

Chickasaw music is based in turtle shell shaking, as is our percussion for stomp dancing and social songs. The Tuscarora people share a very similar shell shaking tradition, as do most Native woodland tribes. In Rattle Songs, Ulali brought together songs from different parts of Indian Country and brilliantly couched them in traditional woodland shell shaking styles.

Camden Shaw, cellist of the Dover Quartet, also happens to be a fan of the Mahk Jchi album. Upon his discovery that I have an affinity for Ulali, he asked if I might be interested in orchestrating Rattle Songs for string quartet. My immediate acceptance and enthusiasm could not be overstated. After consulting with Pura Fé, I have created these orchestrations that are classically impressionistic in a post-modern style. I make no deliberate attempt to imitate the exact sound of rattles from the original songs; rather, I have created a new home for them in the string quartet. Pura Fé created Rattle Songs as a homage to her Native North American cousins and it is my hope that my orchestrations create another layer of honoring our people.

From the liner notes of Mahk Jchi:
“In ancient times a Tuscarora woman carried the name ‘Ulali’ for her beautiful voice. ‘Ulali’ is a songbird (Wood Thrush) name given to Pura Fé, Soni, and Jennifer, by Lawrence Dunmore of the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation in North Carolina. ‘Ulali’ is a First Nations women’s a cappella trio, that sing in many styles and languages of their people of the Western Hemisphere.”

—© Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate

DVOŘÁK String Quartet No. 11 in C Major, Op. 61, B. 121

DVOŘÁK String Quartet No. 11 in C Major, Op. 61, B. 121 (35’)
I. Allegro
II. Poco adagio e molto cantabile
III. Scherzo
IV. Finale (Vivace)

The music in this work differs fundamentally from Dvořák’s previous string quartet with its subtitle “Slavonic.” In his new quartet the composer did not use a single melody that might have been described as “Slavonic;” for his inspiration he looked to the likes of Beethoven and Schubert. With its absence of Slavic undertones, the Quartet in C Major is fairly atypical for Dvořák. Nevertheless, it is a testimony of the next stage in his development and is undeniably one of Dvořák’s finest chamber pieces. The quartet betrays a Classical sense of equilibrium and great intellectual depth, clearly profiled thematic material and a high level of formal compactness in all four movements. The first movement in sonata form is surprising for its resourceful development of the main subject, the latter’s various transformations, and the remarkable harmonies overall. The second movement, with its dialogic development of the chief motif and the impulsively chromatic passages, is truly a gem among Dvořák’s adagios. The Beethoven model is most tangible in the third, scherzo movement, particularly in the brusque rhythms of its main section. The work culminates in the fourth movement, whose sense of boisterous joy appears to subside before the close, only to end brazenly in a short, rousing coda.

—© Courtesy of www.antonin-dvorak.cz

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