#ClassicsaDay #WomensHistoryMonth Week 4, 2025

 March is Women's History Month. And it's a great opportunity for Classics a Day to focus on the contributions of women to classical music. 

Women composers are often unjustly overlooked by history. The problem is seldom the quality of their work -- just the worker's gender. The challenge in March is to post examples of music by women composers. There's a millennium of music to choose from. For me, the challenge was what to leave out. Here are my posts for the fourth and final week of #WomensHistoryMonth.

03/24/25 Dora Pejačevič (1885-1923) Piano quartet in D minor, Op 25

Pejacevic was one of Croatia's most important composers and a talented pianist. Her piano quintet was written in 1908, when she was only 23.

 

03/25/25 Florence Price (1887-1953): Piano concerto in One Movement

Price composed her concerto in 1934 and premiered it at the Chicago Musical College. The score was considered lost until it was found in her former residence in 2009.

 

03/26/25 Clara Schumann (1819-1896) Drei Romanzen, Op. 21

Clara Schumann composed relatively few compositions. Her Three Romances was one of her last works, written in 1853. At the time she was 34, a mother of 7, and concertizing throughout Europe.

 

03/27/25 María Teresa Prieto (1896-1982): Cuadros de la Naturaleza, Diptico para Orquesta 1965

Prieto was a Spanish composer who spent most of her life in Mexico. Her music blended 12-tone technique with Mexican traditional music.

 

03/28/25 Louise Farrenc (1804–1875): Trio for flute, cello, and piano, Op. 45

Farrenc was a piano virtuoso and composer. In her lifetime, she was one of the most famous and respected musicians in Paris.

Next month:

Kreutzer Quartet: Four Premieres, Four Bold Voices

This album was a long time coming. The Kreutzer Quartet began recording it in 2018 and completed it four years later. The program features four world premier recordings from new and old composers.

Thomas Metcalf is in his thirties and has an impressive body of work. "Pixelating the River" (2022) was commissioned and premiered by the Kreutzer Quartet. The structure is extremely complex. But the quartet's playing makes sense of it all. Metcalf has broken his music down into it's smallest components. The Kreutzer's phrasing shows how it all fits together.   

Australian composer Sadie Harrison is another young artist with something to say. Many of her works address social injustice, as does the piece here. "10,000 Black Men Named George: The Multiple Burdens of Injustice" says it all in the title. Harrison uses African-American spirituals as the template for her work. The result is a moving and heartfelt lament that transcends race.

"On Blue" (2020) was another commission by the Kreutzer Quartet. Joel Jarventausta is concerned with texture. This work moves slowly, with the instruments gradually shifting in their interrelationships. The quartet does a masterful job of sustaining the intensity of the music.. 

Gloria Coates is probably the most familiar composer on the release. The Piano Quintet was her final completed work. Half of the quartet is tuned a quarter-tone higher. It gives the ensemble an eerie, otherworldly sound. From the ethereal sound clouds to the hammering tuttis, this is classic Coates. And it's an apt summation of her career. 

Four contemporary composers with four totally unique approaches to composition. Another fine album by the Kreutzer Quartet.

Kreuzter Quartet: Something So Transporting Bright
Music by Thomas Metcalf, Sadie Harrison, Joel Jarventausta,Gloria Coates
Metier MEX 77132

Derek Scott’s Dance Suites: Defying Academia

 Derek Scott's academic career focused on the British music hall and popular music. And in his youth he played in a rock band. That experience and knowledge come into play with his Dance Suites.

According to Scott, "derision in academic circles for music that was often categorised as ‘derivative rubbish’ or ‘entertainment for the masses’" made him reticent to complete these works. He got over it, though. And I'm glad he did. 

These suites were inspired by various popular dances. But they are neither derivative nor superficially entertaining. Rather, Scott explores the essence of these dances. He keeps the character of the dances while expanding and building upon their cores. 

Dance Suite No. 1 "Old Time Dances" celebrates dances of the Edwardian Era. It includes the tango, waltz, polka, and two-step. Dance Suite No. 2 "The 1960s" features the boogaloo, watusi, and the twist. Both suites are a lot of fun. But they're also substantial works as well. 

Either would be great for a pops concert or a regular series concert. The same is true for the Serenade, Op. 48. Scott channels the great light classical composers, such as Eric Coates and Trevor Duncan. 

Once again, Scott uses the prototypes as a starting point. So, the Serenade achieves the intended effect without sounding like a pastiche. This is wholly original music that -- by design -- is tuneful and accessible. 

Paul Mann directs the Liepaja Symphony Orchestra. These artists deliver spirited performances that add to the fun. 

Scott's Dance Suites may be frowned on by academia, but they brought a smile to my face. 

Derek B. Scott: Orchestral Works, Volume 4
Dance Suite Nos. 1 & 2; Serenade
Liepaja Symphony Orchestra; Paul Mann, conductor
Toccata Classics TOCC 0750

#ClassicsaDay #WomensHistoryMonth Week 3, 2025

 March is Women's History Month. And it's a great opportunity for Classics a Day to focus on the contributions of women to classical music. 

Women composers are often unjustly overlooked by history. The problem is seldom the quality of their work -- just the worker's gender. The challenge in March is to post examples of music by women composers. There's a millennium of music to choose from. For me, the challenge was what to leave out. Here are my posts for the third week of #WomensHistoryMonth.

03/17/25 Wilhelmine of Prussia, Margravine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth (1709-1758): Argenore Overture

Wilhelminie was the older sister of Frederick the Great. Like her brother, she was a talented amateur musician and composer. This is the overture to her 1740 opera.

 

03/18/25 Anna Bon (c.1739-c.1767): Flute sonata in D major, Op. 1 No. 4

Anna was the daughter of professional musicians. The family came to work at the Esterhazy estate under Franz Joseph Haydn. Bon was a harpsichordist as well as a composer.

 

03/19/25 Marianne von Martinez (1744-1812): La Tempesta

Martinez was a talented harpsichordist, singer, and composer. "La Tempesta" was most likely premiered by Martinez herself.

 

03/20/25 Josepha Barbara von Auernhammer (1758-1820): Soanta for Harpsichord and Violin in C major

Auerhammer was well-known in Vienna as a performer and composer. Mozart admired her technique and dedicated two of his violin sonatas to her.

 

03/21/25 Emilie Mayer (1812–1883): Symphony No. 1 in C minor

The only thing holding Mayer back was her gender. She published over 50 works, wrote 8 symphonies, and was co-chair of the Berlin Opera Academy.

 

Théodore Dubois: A Romantic Voice Rediscovered

 

Théodore Dubois was a major force in French music at the turn of the 20th Century. He had won the Prix de Rome in 1864, establishing his reputation as a composer. He was organist at several major churches in Paris. And eventually Dubois became director of the Paris Conservatoire. 

Dubois' ambition was to write opera. Most of them were either unperformed, or had very short runs. In the meantime, he amassed an impressive body of work in other genres. 

This release features several chamber works by Dubois. They show a composer with a gift for melody and a talent for organizing his material.

The Piano Quintet in F major is a good example. Traditional piano quintets are comprised of a piano plus a string quartet. Dubois substitutes an oboe for one of the violins. This creates a wider timbre palette that Dubois exploits. 

The album's other major composition is the 1909 String Quartet No. 1. Dubois writes idiomatically for the strings. The work flows effortlessly along as an animated conversation between four friends. 

Contemporaries judged Dubois to be a skilled composer, if not an especially original one. That might be a little unfair. His musical language is that of the late Romantic period. 

It doesn't upend harmonies like Debussy. But neither does it sound like an inferior imitation of someone else. 

Dubois's crime seems to be just that he colored within the lines. But the colors he chose elevate his music above the ordinary. 

The works on this release feature some unusual instrumental combinations. Unusual but effective combinations. 

The assembled musicians deliver nuanced, committed performances. They help make the case that this music needs to be heard. 

If you enjoy the music of French masters such as Massenet and Saint-Saens, give Dubois a listen. It's music worth exploring. 

Théodore Dubois: Chamber Music
Lajos Lencsés, oboe; Carole Dubois, piano; Antal Váradi, organ; Renie Yamahata, harp; Quatuor Parisii; Budapest Strings
Toccata Classics No: TOCC0362

Anatoly Alexandrov’s Landmark Piano Sonatas

Anatoly Alexandrov was a pianist and composer who worked in the Soviet Union. His music isn't as well-known in the West as those of his colleagues (like Shostakovich and Prokofiev). 

Alexandrov wrote in a variety of genres. But his most important works were his fourteen piano sonatas. They're also his most deeply personal works. 

This three CD set includes all fourteen sonatas. And it gives three of them world recording premieres. Clarisse Teo plays with sensitivity and expression. Her interpretations explore the emotional depths of these works.

Alexandrov was a talented pianist. And these sonatas show the full range of his abilities. Teo ably brings out the complex inner voices of Alexandrov's music.    

Like Scriabin, Alexandrov's music has a mystic quality to it. During the Stalin era, he downplayed that characteristic. But it was always present. And Teo draws it out of the scores.

Divine Art sequences the sonatas in chronological order. And that's a great way to listen to them (at least initially). It's easy to hear the development of Alexandrov's compositional skill. And at the same time hear the spiritual foundations that tie these works together. 

Highly recommended.

Anatoly Alexandrov: Complete Piano Sonatas
Clarisse Teo, piano
Divine Art DDX 21375
3 CD Set

#ClassicsaDay #WomensHistoryMonth Week 2, 2025

 March is Women's History Month. And it's a great opportunity for Classics a Day to focus on the contributions of women to classical music. 

Women composers are often unjustly overlooked by history. The problem is seldom the quality of their work -- just the worker's gender. The challenge in March is to post examples of music by women composers. There's a millennium of music to choose from. For me, the challenge was what to leave out. Here are my posts for the second week of #WomensHistoryMonth.

3/10/25 Francesca Caccini (1587–1640?): O Che Nuovo Stupor

Her father was one of the first opera composers, and Francesca herself wrote incidental music for plays by Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger, grand-nephew of Michelangelo.

3/11/25 Leonora Duarte (1610–1678): Sinfonia No. 4

Duarte was an accomplished instrumentalist. She played the lute, virginal, and viol. She composed a set of seven sinfonias for the viol, probably in the late 1620s.

 

03/12/25 Barbara Strozzi (1619–1677): Cantate, Ariette e Duetti No. 16, Op. 2

Strozzi was a talented instrumentalist, singer, and composer. In the 1670s she had the most secular music in print of any composer, male or female.

 

03/13/25 Isabella Leonarda (1620–1704): Sonata duodecima

Leonarda entered a convent at age 16. But her talent for composition extended far beyond its walls. She published 20 collections of her music and was known as the Muse of Novara.

 

Mlle Bocquet (early 17th C.-after 1660): Gigue

We don't know her first name or much about her life. But she was once considered one of the best lutenists in Paris and her music was widely distributed throughout Western Europe.

 

Ronaldo Miranda’s Piano Works Shine in New Release

The latest entry in Naxos' Music of Brazil series is a real corker. And a real discovery (at least for me). It features works for piano and orchestra by Ronaldo Miranda. 

Though probably not well-known in America, Miranda has international stature. He's considered one of Brazil's most important living composers. And his music regularly appears in concerts and music festivals throughout Europe. 

This album features three world recording premiers. Miranda's 1983 Piano Concerto is one of them. It's an intense, modernist work with echoes of Bartok. Miranda is a natural melodist. No matter how jagged the contours, melody always wins out. 

This is an energetic work that pits piano against orchestra. And that dynamic back-and-forth is thrilling. Wonder why it took so long to get it recorded. This is a composition that should appeal to many orchestras -- and soloists.

The 1986 Concertino for Piano and Strings has a more modest scope. It's a more tonal composition. The motivic thrusts reminded me a little of Bernard Hermann. Like the concerto, this piece demands your attention -- and rewards it with a wealth of detail. 

Also included are two pieces for orchestra. The Variacoes Temporais (Beethoven Revisitato) (2014) features a variety of Beethoven motifs, quickly deconstructed by Miranda. Hoizontes is a tone poem inspired by Columbus' voyage of discovery (the good parts). 

Pianist Eduardo Monteiro brings a lot of attitude to his playing. And it's what Miranda's music requires. These aren't academic exercises. This is music to be enjoyed. And that's just what Monterio delivers. 

Ronaldo Miranda: Piano Concerto
Concertino; Horizontes; Variacoes Temporais
Eduardo Monteiro, piano
Minas Gerais Philharmonic Orchestra; Fabio Mechetti
Naxos 8.574591

Falletta and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra Dazzle with Contemporary Music

I know people who absolutely, positively will not listen to contemporary music. If the local orchestra schedules it, they'll show up late to miss it (or not show up at all). Why? Because they assume that all modern music is dissonant and ugly. Sorry, that only describes their prejudices. 

Wonderful, exquisitely beautiful classical music is being written every day. All it needs in an audience. JoAnn Falletta and the Buffalo Philharmonic have done their part. 

They've put together a program of engaging, well-crafted works. These pieces are unabashedly tonal, and yet they could have only been composed now, in the 21st Century. 

All four composers have a strong relationship with Falletta and the BPO. The musicians know these composers. They know what they're trying to say, and they deliver. 

The BPO has recorded several Kenneth Fuchs albums. Their latest collaboration won them a Grammy. "Point of Tranquility" is a drifting cloud of swirling orchestral colors. As the piece progresses, these colors come together before dissipating into the air. 

Russell Platt's Symphony in Three Movements is an homage. It's inspired by Expressionist artist Clyfford Still. This is a restless, energetic work. Spikey melodies compete with each other for attention. Yet in terms of modernism, Platt's language isn't that far removed from Shostakovich's.

BPO's first chair oboist Henry Ward gets the spotlight in a collaborative concerto. Randall Svane is a friend of Falletta. She thought his Sonata for Oboe and Piano would make a good concerto. "Concerto for Oboe and Orchestra" is the result of that commission. 

Svane reworked the sonata taking advantage of the orchestra's expanded color palette. Modal harmonies add to the attractiveness of the work. 

The Covid-19 lockdown inspired "The Winter that United Us.". Wang Jie's work is introspective. In places I heard hints of Sibelius, Shostakovich, Barber, and Saint-Saens. But the material, and how it's developed, is all Jie. 

I hope the house was packed when the BPO performed these works. This is the direction classical music is going. It just needs audience support. Recommended.

Contemporary Landscapes
Kenneth Fuchs, Russell Platt, Randall Svane, Wang Jie
Henry Ward, oboe
Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra; JoAnn Falletta, conductor
BPO

#ClassicsaDay #WomensHistoryMonth Week 1 2025

 March is Women's History Month. And it's a great opportunity for Classics a Day to focus on the contributions of women to classical music. 

Women composers are often unjustly overlooked by history. The problem is seldom the quality of their work -- just the worker's gender. The challenge in March is to post examples of music by women composers. There's a millennium of music to choose from. For me, the challenge was what to leave out. Here are my posts for the first week of #WomensHistoryMonth.

03/03/25 Kassia (c. 810- before 865): Hymn of Kassia

Kassia is the earliest known woman composer. She was a noblewoman in Constantinople who became an Eastern Orthodox Abbess and founded an order of nuns. She composed over 40 hymns, many of which are still used in church services to this day.

 

03/04/25 Hildegard von Bingen: (1098-1179) De spirito Sancto

Though not the earliest known Medieval female composer, Hildegard is certainly the best-known. Her music was originally written to be sung during services in her convent. In the 1920s, her music was revived and is now performed throughout the world.

 

03/05/25 Maddalena Casula (c. 1544-c.1590): Morir non può il mio cuore

Casuala was a lutenist patronized by Isabelle de Medici. Casuala published four volumes of her madrigals between 1566 and 1586. She's the earliest known published female composer.

 

03/06/25 Raffaella Aleotti (c. 1575-after 1620): Sacrae cantonies: Sancta et immaculata virginitas

Aleotti became a nun at age 14. Yet she composed both sacred and secular works. A collection of sacred music (Sacrae cantonies) was published in 1593.

 

03/07/25 Alba Iressina (c.1590-d after 1638): Vulnerasti cor meum

Iressina was abbess of a convent in Vicenza. She studied with Leone Leoni, a priest and composer. He included four of her works (with credit) in a collection published in 1622.

 

Romantic Bassoon: Scandinavian Gems Rediscoverd

 

This release presents four bassoon concertos from the Romantic Period. Specifically, Swedish concertos written in the early 1800s for Frans Carl Preumayr.  Preumayr was a virtuoso bassoonist living in Stockholm.

The most familiar composers represented are Franz Berwald and Berhard Crusell (Preumayr's father-in-law). Familiar, that is, if you know Scandinavian classical music. Their works were frequently programmed throughout the region in the mid 1800s.

Édouard Du Puy is a little more obscure. He was born in Switzerland, but Du Pay worked in Copenhagen and Stockholm most of his life. 

The fourth composer on the album is Eduard Brendler. He was born in Germany, and his family moved to Sweden when he was an infant. He died age 31. Brendler's catalog of works was small, but showed great promise.

All four pieces were written for the same performer. And that provides a certain consistency among them. They all share a Mendelssohn clarity of construction and melody. 

Bassoonist Jaakko Luoma plays with a warm, honeyed tone. This makes slow movements especially delicious. And he can also play with agility when required. And his rapid scale work is always articulate and clear. 

I'd recommend this album to just about anyone. If the only Scandinavian composer you know is Edvard Grieg - start here. If you don't think of the bassoon as a solo instrument -- start here. And if you just enjoy the early Romantic style of Mendelssohn and Schumann -- start here.

Bassoon Concertos: Crusell, Du Puy, Berwald, Brendler

Jaako Luoma, bassoon

Tapiola Sinfonietta; Janne Nisonen, concertmaster

Ondine CDE 1481-2

Baltic Echoes: Choir and Strings in Perfect Harmony

 

There's something about the Baltic region. Something that has inspired native composers in the 20th Century. Something that has inspired deeply spiritual works of contemplation.

Dalia Dedinskaite (violin) and Gleb Pysniak (cello) are a powerhouse duo. And they know this music well. They're from Lithuania and intuitively understand the Baltic aesthetic. 

On this release, they're joined by the Vilnius Municipal Choir JAUNA MUZIKA, directed by Vaclovas Augustinas. (Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania if you didn't know.)

One of the standout works on this album of masterpieces is "Ave Maria." it's set by Lithuanian composer Jurgis Juozapaitis. Soloists, choir, conductor, and composer are all in sync. It's a luminous work highlighted by string obbligottos. 

Estonian composer Arvo Part is internationally known. Some consider him one of the founders of this ethereal, clouds-of-sound choral writing. But actually, British composer John Tavener came first. His interest in Eastern Orthodox hymnody laid the foundation. Both composers are represented in this release. 

The album also includes music by Latvian Peteris Vasks and Norwegian Ola Gjeilo. They're among the most-performed and most-recorded choral composers today. 

The choir has a warm, transparent sound. There's enough room ambiance to give the voices a soft focus, but not enough to muddy the sound. It's the perfect sound for these compositions. And Dedinskaite and Pysniak are at the top of their games. 

The album concludes with a heart-rending version of "The High Pass: Melody." Myroslav Skyork's tune has become the symbol of Ukrainian resistance. This version for choir and strings is gorgeous, yet full of melancholy. Not to be missed.

Baltic Prayer
Dalia Dedinskaite, violin; Gleb Pysniak, cello
Vinius Municipal Choir JAUNA MUZIKA, Vaclovas Augustinas, conductor
Stradivarius STR 37322