Composer: Ruth Gipps, Ethel Smyth, Susan Spain-Dunk, Constance Warren
Orchestra: Südwestdeutsches Kammerorchester Pforzheim
Conductor: Douglas Bostock
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: CPO
Catalogue: 5554572
Release: 2021
Size: 308 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Smyth: Suite for Strings, Op. 1a
01. I. Allegro con brio
02. II. Andantino poco allegretto
03. III. Scherzo. Allegro vivace
04. IV. Adagio con moto
05. V. Allegro con moto
Spain-Dunk: Suite in B minor for String Orchestra
06. I. Prelude. Moderato
07. II. Interlude
08. III. Romance. Andante con espressione
09. IV. Scherzo. Presto e spicato
10. V. Finale. Lento ma non troppo
11. Warren: Heather Hill for String Orchestra
12. Spain-Dunk: Lament for String Orchestra
13. Gipps: Cinglemire Garden, Op. 39
Vol. 3 in our successful series with “Music for Strings by British Composers” features works by four important women composers, some of whom initially were underappreciated and whose music only later was performed again and received proper recognition. However, the period from 1893 to 1934 was still an extremely favorable time for British women composers who wanted to present their works on their country’s concert stages in as much as they could count on support principally from Sir Henry Wood at the Prom’s and Dan Godfrey in Bournemouth.
Ethel Smyth (familiar to our listening audience from CPO albums with works by her) and Susan Spain-Dunk in particular profited from this support. In addition, this release presents recording premieres of string compositions by Constance Warren and Ruth Gipps, in part in editions by the conductor Douglas Bostock himself.
On this third volume the Southwest German Chamber Orchestra of Pforzheim once again “explores the works with a lot of understanding for the particular personal style and with a fine sense of sound. Douglas Bostock knows how to bring out manifold colors from the orchestra and also, when needed, how to sharpen the tone and to place the sonority of the whole in the foreground” (klassik.com in April 2021, about the second volume).