Praise for Dream Drapery: “Three fantastical worlds debouch from this talismanic Galax release! Marc Mellits’s “String Quartet No. 2, ‘Revolution’.” Pachinko machines at rush hour in a manga Shinjuku. A haunted shop of wind-up toys with an orchestra of sawing skeletons. A civilization emerges from the comic chaos of melted cities; they embrace and sing the national anthem of a vanished land. Winged eyes perch on the musical staves, and high kites soar. An intricate dance of sorrow and joy, scribed on the rolling bosom of a cello glissando. In Joseph Schwanter’s “Dream Drapery: Thoreau Songs,” The Galax strings are transcendentally clear and precise. And words are wondrous, drawn from the bittersweet poems of Thoreau. I was ensorcelled by the titular song of a “low-anchored cloud…fountain-head and source of rivers, dew-cloth, dream drapery…” Canny contralto Karen Clark outdoes herself; her pace and diction is keyed to a higher logic of sound; each phoneme is considered and deployed with elegant effect. I listened twice, thrice, five times, taking it deeper each time. A platonic cloud of ear. Robert Morris’s “Radif IV” is a fairyland, a cultural memory bank, brimming with the ravishing music of Atlantis. The lines swoop and interlace in sailor’s knots, tied by the assiduous Galax hands. Wineglass resonances bisect the halves of your brain. Bombay movie music drifts from the seventh heaven of Persia. All orchestrated by the implacable logic of aleatory Arabic jazz.” —Rudy Rucker, author (The Ware Tetralogy, The Hollow Earth, Hylozoic) “Dream Drapery by the Galax Quartet and contralto Karen R. Clark is a bold and beautiful recording. The dynamism and exuberant groove of “Revolution,” Marc Mellits’ tribute to the brave Romanian protesters of 1989, are well captured by the Galax Quartet. Robert Morris’ “Radif IV – Stars of the Highest Magnitude” sweeps us along on a minimalist excursion fueled by world music traditions. Best of all is the title work, “Dream Drapery – Thoreau Songs” by Joseph Schwantner. In this performance, the Galax Quartet and Karen Clark are locked sonically in a loving embrace. Clark demonstrates admirable vocal control and great sensitivity in capturing the songs’ many characters. The Galax Quartet matches her with a compelling display of nuance.” —Hank Dutt, violist (Kronos Quartet) “I absolutely love this recording!” —Angela Mariani, Harmonia Early Music, WFIU Public Radio “The recording, made in Berkeley, California, is fabulously vibrant, allowing the natural electricity of the performances to reveal itself through the music itself. This is fascinating repertoire, performed, recorded, and presented to the highest possible standards.” —Colin Clarke, Fanfare, December 2020
