Searching for an American Sound: The Dover Quartet on NPR

When the Dover Quartet, one of the world’s most in-demand chamber ensembles, asked Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate to compose a new work inspired by Native American traditions, he turned to the woodland creatures venerated by his own Chickasaw Nation. The results, Woodland Songs, is the title work of the group’s new album.

The Dovers and Tate recently appeared on NPR’s Morning Edition. Cellist Camden Shaw describes working with Tate as a "great balance of being very demanding for what he wanted to hear, but also allowing us to be ourselves and feeling like we're all on the same team."

“When you think about what is American and what this music represents, what is the album sort of meant to do?,” asked host Leila Fadel.

“It reminds me of something, Jerod said, which really touched me,” said Shaw. “That all people come from ancient cultures, that there are these long threads of connection in art and thinking and feeling that go way back for all of us. And the desire really as the core of this album was to explore connections between things musically that have existed on this continent for a very, very long time. You can hear references to, like, bluegrass styles...”

The critically acclaimed Woodland Songs also includes Tate’s new string-quartet orchestration of Rattle Songs, by the Indigenous singer Pura Fé, originally for her a cappella vocal group Ulali. Dvořák’s “American” Quartet completes the album, available now via the Curtis Studio label on Apple Classical and all major streaming platforms.

Read the NPR piece and listen to the full conversation HERE.

Stream Woodland Songs HERE.

Jerod Impichcha̱achaaha' Tate; Pura Fé