On October 1, 2022, composer Victoria Bond's new album, "Blue and Green Music" was released on Albany Records (TROY 1905). The centerpiece of the album is the world premiere recording of Blue and Green Music, commissioned by the Cassatt Quartet through a Chamber Music America commissioning grant.

The title track was inspired by a Georgia O'Keeffe painting of the same name, which uses the two colors to create an abstract study in motion, color and form. Victoria Bond writes, "O’Keeffe said, 'Since I cannot sing, I paint.' Her painting is filled with music and it was my challenge to hear that music. I created two distinct motifs to express the two colors, and those motifs developed their own sense of direction and form. Just as O’Keeffe’s painting is suggestive rather than specific, my music is intended to evoke rather than describe."

This is a fine album of chamber music that has two rather strong contemporary string quartets that are quite engaging. Both song cycles are also equally fascinating examples of art song style with engaging texts and approaches. The performances are also superb with excellent attention to detail in the Cassatt performances with displays of technical virtuosity amidst solid interpretations.

“Blue and Green” opens with dramatic, almost angst-ridden gestures redolent of early twentieth-century string writing (Verklärte Nacht, for example) but gradually brightens as the patterns grow livelier in their interlacing. The Cassatt players navigate the shifting terrain of the movement with authority and amplify the emotional resonance of the writing at each moment.