It is not every day that a music manuscript of extraordinary rarity and beauty is rediscovered. On AMERICAN WOMAN: HELEN CRANE, cellist Juliana Soltis has achieved exactly that. Known both for her musicianship and taste for novelty, Soltis successfully managed to track down An Elegy, a nigh-forgotten, prize-winning cello and piano composition by Helen Crane (1868-1930). Together with Pianist Emile Blondel, this work is now justly roused from its slumber.
And what a redemption it is: An Elegy, with its swooping, lyrical phrases, clear-cut Romanticism, and skillful dialogue between the cello and piano, is resurrected in all its compositional glory. Soltis’ energetic style contrasts well with Blondel’s subtlety, and the result is breathtaking.