Five new works for string quartet, soprano, and solo instrument, all by female composers and each of them recorded for the first time. The Ragazze Quarted, an all-female ensemble have come to be an important voice in contemporary classical music. In adventurous productions of their own, they address socially relevant themes such as climate, the history of slavery, mourning and feminism.

The music on this album is a selection of nine songs from a song cycle in which women – who, as we all know, have so often been silenced in history and mythology – speak for themselves. See for the complete collection, see the print edition “They Have Waited Long Enough” that can be ordered separately.

All the material on this album has been created by women and (almost) all performers are women. The works by Aftab Darvishi, Annelies van Parys, Calliope Tsoupaki, Aida Shirazi, and Saskia Venegas Aernouts – set to texts by Gaea Schoeters, Ece Temelkuran, and Nathalie Haynes – form an urgent and multifaceted musical collage. The album underscores the power and relevance of stories told from a female perspective that have remained untold and unheard for far too long.

Beautiful edition in a triple gatefold cover, including a booklet with the complete texts of the five songs. I love the artwork by the way! Made by Cristina Garcia Martin (All Things Moving)

Tracks:

01. Never Belonged   9:47
Composed by Aftab Darvishi
Ragazze Quartet, Katharine Dain, Raphaela Danksagmüller

02. Medea   15:52
Composed by Annelies Van Parys
Ragazze Quartet, Katharine Dain, Anna voor de Wind

03. Penelope   18:44
Composed by Calliope Tsoupaki
Ragazze Quartet, Katharine Dain, Osama Abdulrasol

04. My Words are Swallows   11:07
Composed by Aida Shirazi
Ragazze Quartet, Katharine Dain, Elif Canfezâ Gündüz

05. Sortzain, Maria San Juan de Garonda   9:52
Composed by Saskia Venegas
Ragazze Quartet, Katharine Dain, Marianna Soroka, Agate Kruszewska