#ClassicaDay #WomensHistoryMonth Week 5, 2023

March is Women's History Month. And for Classics a Day, it's another opportunity to focus on classical music composed by women. And not just composers in the 21st Century. 

Every year when we do this theme, I discover more female composers whose music I have never heard before. But it's music that deserves to be heard -- and more than once.

Here are my posts for the fifth and final week of Women's History Month, 2023.

03/28/22 Emilie Mayer (1812–1883) - String Quartet in G minor, Op. 14

Mayer was the Associate Director of the Opera Academy in Berlin. Her composing career took off after a concert of her works in 1850. Mayer wrote seven string quartets. Her G minor quartet was published in 1858.

03/29/22 Louise Farrenc (1804–1875) - Cello Sonata in B-flat major, Op. 46

Farrenc was well-known as a pianist and composer. Most of her works were for chamber ensembles. Her cello sonata was published in 1858, and most likely premiered with Farrenc at the piano.

03/30/22 Marianne von Martinez (1744-1812) - Sonata for Piano in E major

Martinez was well-known in 18th Century Vienna, both as a pianist and composer. She often gave command performances for Empress Maria Theresa.

03/31/22 Sophia Giustina Dussek (1775 – ca. 1831) - Harp Sonata in C minor, Op. 3, No. 3

Sophia Guistina was married to Jan Ladislav Dussek. She was a pianist, harpist, and composer. Her most popular works were her sonatas for harp.

Next month:

Villiers Quartet Perform Frederick Delius and Ethel Smyth

This is a very satisfying release. The Villiers Quartet performs string quartets by two British composers. Two British composers who only wrote one quartet. And both works have rather unusual origins. 

Ethel Smyth started her String Quartet in E minor in 1902. She completed the first two movements and then put the work aside. She returned to it a decade later and finished the composition. 

Despite the ten-year gap, the work has a consistent style running through it. The final movement doesn't sound tacked on or out of place. 

Frederick Delius's String Quartet in C minor also has an interrupted history. He began work on it in 1888 while still a student, but only completed a movement or two. He revisited the genre in 1916. Delius recycled some of his earlier material and create a four-movement work. 

After the premiere -- and sole performance -- part of the score was lost. Two of the movements had vanished, only to reappear in a 2018 auction. This recording is the first of the fully restored quartet. This isn't the English pastorale Delius. Rather, this is Brahsmian pure music. 

The Villiers Quartet has a smooth ensemble sound. And they have just the right amount of expressiveness in their playing. The soloists are nicely balanced in this recording. 

Great stuff!

Frederick Delius, Ethel Smyth: String Quartets
Villiers Quartet
Naxos

Ian Hobson Continues Fine Moskzkowski Series

For this installment of Moskowski piano works, Ian Hobson opts for some early pieces. The music presented provides insight into Moskowski's development as a composer. And they also entertain (as was their purpose). 

The Six Piano Pieces, Op. 15 are charmers. This is salon music, but it's of the highest quality. Moskowski delivers on expectations without resorting to cliche.

 The Five Piano Pieces, Op. 18 are similar in character. The debt to Mendelssohn and Schumann is obvious. And that's fine. While they're no masterworks, these little pieces beguile the ear. And that makes for an enjoyable listen. 

The Three Piano Pieces in Dance Form, Op. 17 are a different matter. Here the influence seems to be Franz Liszt. Amateurs could play music from the other two sets. These pieces require a higher degree of skill. And the music is more advanced as well. Moskowski takes time to develop his themes. 

Ian Hobson plays admirably. I was especially impressed with his performances of the Three Piano Pieces in Dance Form. I felt that Moskowski loosened the reigns on his compositional imagination. And Hobson is right there with him, giving these works the committed performances they need. 

Moskowski was a virtuoso pianist, so he wrote a lot of piano music. There are definitely more volumes to come! I look forward to hearing them. 

Moritz Moskzkowski: Complete Music for Solo Piano, Volume Two
Ian Hobson, piano
Toccatta Classics, TOCC 066

Ronald Brautigam Does Wilms Concertos Justice

Johann Wilhelm Wilms wrote, "The knowledge that you have not produced anything trivial, that you have achieved honourable things through your achievements, is in itself the best reward." 

He did have tremendous talent as a pianist and composer. But Wilms was never more than a regional celebrity in his lifetime. 

That region was Holland. Wilms was the most prominent musical figure in Amsterdam in the early 1800s. He was an admirer of both Mozart and Beethoven. He premiered Beethoven's piano concertos in Amsterdam with himself as soloist. 

Part of the problem was that Dutch audiences wanted light entertainment. Wilms was writing on an entirely different level. Fortunately, recordings such as this album let us reevaluate his work. 

Volume Two of the Wilms piano concerto series presents his two largest works. The Piano concerto in F major was written in 1814. Beethoven's "Emperor" concerto had premiered five years before. 

Wilms seems to take inspiration from Beethoven. His motifs are clear-cut, and he develops them in a manner like Beethoven's. But Wilms' music isn't derivative. He knew the capabilities of the piano and wrote accordingly.

This concerto takes some unexpected turns that keep the listener engaged. So too does the Piano Concerto in E-flat major. Wilms completed this work in 1820. Here the gestures are bigger, and perhaps a little reactionary. By 1820 the newer Romantic style was beginning to coalesce. But not with Wilms. 

The work has the elegant balance of a Classical Era concerto. And it has the large, dramatic gestures Beethoven brought to the genre. 

Ronald Brutigan delivers an exceptional performance. He uses a fortepiano, rather than a modern piano. The timber is different, and it gives us a better idea of the sound Wilms had in mind. 

I normally don't like the sound of the fortepiano. But when played by Brutigam, I do. Attacks are clean, and the mechanism is virtually silent. The instrument's sound is truly expressive.

Johann Wilhelm Wilms: Piano Concertos, Vol. 2
Ronald Bautigam, fortepiano
Kölner Akademie; Michael Alexander Willens conductor
BIS SACD 2524

#ClassicsaDay #WomensHistoryMonth Week 4, 2023

March is Women's History Month. And for Classics a Day, it's another opportunity to focus on classical music composed by women. And not just composers in the 21st Century. 

Every year when we do this theme, I discover more female composers whose music I have never heard before. But it's music that deserves to be heard -- and more than once.

Here are my posts for the fourth week of Women's History Month, 2023.

03/20/23 Julie Pinel: Chantez, dansez jeunes bergères

Little is known about this French composer and harpsichordist. She did publish a collection of 31 songs in 1737, Nouveau receuil d'airs sérioux et à boire.

03/21/23 Sophia Maria Westenholz: Sonata for Piano Four Hands, Op. 3

Westenholz was an accomplished singer and pianist, as well as a composer. Her husband was Kapellmeister to the Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. When he died in 1789, she was named Kapellmeisterin and continued to serve the court as a perfomer composer, and teacher.

03/22/23 Beatritz de Dia (fl. c. 1175-c.1212): Estat ai en greu cossirier

Beatritz was a trobairitz (a female troubadour). She composed and performed poems and songs for courtly entertainment. Unlike troubadours, most trobairtiz were of noble birth -- like the Comtessa de Dia.

03/23/23 Francesca Caccini (1587 - after 1641): Antri gelati

Caccini was a singer, lutenist, poet, and composer. She's credited as the first woman to write a complete opera. "La liberazione di Ruggiero dall'isola di Alcina" (1625) was a smash hit.

03/24/23 Barbara Strozzi (1619-1677): Che si può fare Op. 8

Strozzi was both a singer and composer. She holds the distinction of having the most secular music in print of any composer of the era -- male or female.