THE NEW YORKER: Nathalie Joachim
THE NEW YORKER: Nathalie Joachim
BY STEVE SMITH
“No more joyous chamber-music collection has arrived this year than “Fanm d’Ayiti,” the exuberant, expressive song cycle that Nathalie Joachim recorded with Spektral Quartet, a brilliant Chicago-based string outfit. The flutist and composer, best known for her work in the ensembles Eighth Blackbird and Flutronix, dug deeply into her Haitian heritage for this work, which she and Spektral perform at Merkin Concert Hall, on Oct. 26, as part of the Ecstatic Music series. Over soaring flute figurations, crystalline string textures, a recorded girls’ choir, and electronic beats, Joachim sings sweetly and strongly in praise of Haitian women—some of whom, including Joachim’s grandmother, speak for themselves in pre-captured testimony.”