Born in Leipzig in 1888 and moving to New York City in the early 1920’s, Johanna Beyer joined the modernist circle around Henry Cowell, Charles Seeger, and Ruth Crawford before her premature death in 1944 to ALS. Her life is understudied, her work little-known, and her musical voice difficult to classify. As good an introduction as any to it is in the calligraphic third of the Four Pieces for Oboe and Bassoon here, which is delicate, minimal, and bold all at once.

– Sean Wood