American Woman—Juliana Soltis, cello; Ruoting Li, piano (Navona 6659)
The latest release from Oberlin grad Juliana Soltis is the perfect album to feature as we move from Black History Month to International Women’s Day (March 8) and Women’s History Month, celebrating strong, determined women. Adding a frisson to the festivities this year is that observing these annual milestones feels subversive! Juliana Soltis offers a program of works for cello and piano by six women, three of whom are African American, and the three white women are new to the WCLV library. Gorgeous meditations open and close the album: Mary Howe’s Ballade Fantasque and an arrangement of Florence Price’s Adoration. Little character studies abound in Amy Beach’s 1898 Three Pieces Op 40 and Helen Crane’s Six Idylls Op 53 from 1918. Two deeply felt works by Black women complete this thoughtful program: Margaret Bond’s Troubled Water and an amazing piece for late night listening, Dirge and Deliverance written in 1971 by Dorothy Rudd Moore. Brava Juliana Soltis and brave American Women!