Women unsungs

[JSK]

I would consider myself fairly knowledgeable on the topic of women composers, but I'm not sure if the most "famous" ones are the best.

In my opinion, the most talented woman composer was Louise Farrenc. The first woman to teach at the Paris Conservatoire, her three Symphonies and two Piano Quintets are appealing works which show high technical mastery as well as significant innovation and individuality of style. In my opinion, these works hold their own well when compared even with the more famous chamber music and symphonies written by contemporaries such as Schubert or Mendelssohn.

Amy Beach was also very gifted. I would agree that the Gaelic Symphony is an excellent work, but I would also recommend the Piano Quintet, the Violin Sonata, and the Piano Concerto. A good version of this concerto is coupled with the symphony on Naxos.

Lili Boulanger's cantata Faust et Helene was a phenomenal achievement for a teenager. Too bad she died so young.

Rebecca Clarke wrote some very good chamber music. The sonata and the passacaglia for viola and piano are possible her best works.

I would agree that Ethyl Smyth's "The Wreckers" is a good opera, but I'm not as convinced of her other works. Maybe I should give them another listen.

Never been much of a fan of Fanny Mendelssohn. Das Jahr is OK, but her output from before her last years was generally not that good. I also have no strong feelings about Clara Schumann, but I think she was a much better composer than Fanny.

Marion Bauer was inconsistent but she wrote some excellent impressionistic piano works. (I would recommend the Stephen Beus CD, coupled with some works by Barber).

My preference among woman composers is Elfrida Andree, but I am possibly biased because I am researching her. I wrote a post about this in other thread if anybody wants to know more about my opinions.

Women composers don't generally get the credit they deserve. The only women composer I have looked at at all who is "bad" is Luise le Beau. Her music is just awful. One long sequence. The best I can say about her piano concerto is that the orchestration is not dreadful.

[Ilja]

We should also name Jeanne Beyerman-Walraven, whose Concert Overture of 1910 is a truly bizarre mix of Scriabin, Strauss and Tchaikovsky. Worth a listen in amazement. Don't know much else by her, though.

[Gareth Vaughan]

And is Miss Beyerman-Walraven's overture recorded, Ilja? Or, indeed, any of her music?

[wunderkind]

The Australian composer Miriam Hyde (1913-2005) should be mentioned here.  The only music of hers which I've heard are two exceedingly winning piano concertos (ABC label).  Romantic, lush and in the style of Rachmaninoff, if I recall correctly.

Also there's Alla Pavlova (b.1952).  Naxos has championed her works with four or five discs, which include 5 of her symphonies.  These are static and somber, for the most part, but quite interesting.

And Margaret Buechner (1922-1998), a German-born US citizen who wrote large works for orchestra - tone poems, choir-included pieces, and a sprawling ballet. http://www.nord-disc.com/

[chill319]

Like JSK, I've always been impressed by the viola sonata of Rebecca Clarke. Since wunderkind mentions Alla Pavlova, it may not be out of place here to nominate the Russian Sofia Gubaidulina and the American Ellen Taaffe Zwilich for consideration.

Regarding the Beach Gaelic, I wish someone would record it in a performance as idiomatic as Karl Krueger's, but without his massive cuts.

[Peter1953]

You're right, chill319, mentioning Ellen Taaffe Zwilich (b. 1939). Some time ago a Clarinet Quintet of her was broadcast. A most lovely piece in 20th century style, and fortunately tonal, so that I didn't need to switch off the radio. I've mentioned Zwilich in the thread "American Composers (The 4th of July is coming)".

Und vielen Dank, wunderkind, to draw some attention to Miriam Hyde and her Piano Concertos. Winning concertos, in the style of Rachmaninov, a woman and an Aussie. Well, I'll give it a try and order the Naxos disc. Maybe my last CD purchase of 2009.
By the way, how many Australian composers, writing in a classical, romantic style, are there?

[JSK]

I believe there is a good recording of the Gaelic symphony on Chandos coupled with some Barber.

[Ilja]

And is Miss Beyerman-Walraven's overture recorded, Ilja? Or, indeed, any of her music?

I own a private recording of the Concert Overture by the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic conducted by Miklos Erdelyid, but that, I fear, is it. More information is here: http://www.donemus.nl/componist.php?id=62&lang=EN. I fear she apparently turned a rather nasty Schoenberg in later years.

[Gareth Vaughan]

Thanks very much, Ilja.

[wunderkind]

Und vielen Dank, wunderkind, to draw some attention to Miriam Hyde and her Piano Concertos. Winning concertos, in the style of Rachmaninov, a woman and an Aussie. Well, I'll give it a try and order the Naxos disc. Maybe my last CD purchase of 2009.

Peter 1953:  The Hyde CD is from ABC Classics.  I do not believe Naxos has recorded her music.  http://www.amazon.com/Hyde-Piano-Concertos-Village-Australia/dp/B00006IKTQ/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1260628893&sr=1-3

[Peter1953]

Thank you, wunderkind. You're right. This morning I already ordered the CD, indeed from ABC Classics (mdt.co.uk). I don't know why I thought it was Naxos; the sleeve design perhaps.

[edurban]

And then there's Augusta Holmes.  I became interested in her in college after singing a song called "Noel d'Irlande", an heroic (?!?!) Christmas carol for the children of (then British) Ireland.  Although Augusta was born in France, she was of Irish backround and a great Fenian.  She had a fiery personality, apparently was quite beautiful, favored a degree of decolletage remarkable even in a decollete age, and hung around with the Franck bunch earning the ire of Mrs. Franck.  Saint-Saens (playing, as usual, both sides of the fence,) proposed to her and was turned down.

She wrote a lot: many songs and vocal pieces, orchestral music and opera.  Everything I've seen (even some of the songs) was big and loud.  The Naxos disc of her orchestral music was a terrific disappointment.  Everything sounds amateurish: rackety construction, no counterpoint, coarse orchestration.  I know it has been occasionally admired on this and the previous forum, but, imo, it is disastrous.  And I wanted to like it so much, knowing the woman she was...oh well.

David

[chill319]

Some songs by Holmes have recently appeared on IMSLP: http://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Holm%C3%A8s,_Augusta_Mary_Anne. As the work of someone bold enough to bear four children out of wedlock, her Hymne a Eros would seem to speak from experience. On the page, at least, it doesn't appear piercingly loud. It has a proper climax, of course (on g# above the staff), but its dynamics wax and wane throbbingly within a comfortable vocal range, and the work ends ppp.

[JimL]

Only one proper climax?

[Alan Howe]

Ethyl Smyth's Serenade in D is for me the best thing written by a female composer of the period and type of music for which this forum is intended. It simply teems with life and is gloriously orchestrated; the highest compliment I could pay it would be to agree with the Penguin Guide's assessment that it could be by Brahms.