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First Ladies: Three Romantic Violin Sonatas (24/96 FLAC)

First Ladies: Three Romantic Violin Sonatas (24/96 FLAC)
First Ladies: Three Romantic Violin Sonatas (24/96 FLAC)

HiRes FLAC

Composer: Elfrida Andrée, Mel Bonis, Ethel Smyth
Performer: Annette-Barbara Vogel, Durval Cesetti
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Toccata
Catalogue: TOCN0013
Release: 2021
Size: 1.05 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes

Andrée: Violin Sonata in E flat major
01. I. Allegro con spirito
02. II. Andante cantabile
03. III. Finale. Allegro moderato e risoluto

Bonis: Violin Sonata in F sharp minor, Op. 112
04. I. Moderato
05. II. Presto
06. III. Lento
07. IV. Finale. Con moto

Smyth: Sonata for Violin and Piano in A minor, Op. 7
08. I. Allegro moderato
09. II. Scherzo. Allegro grazioso
10. III. Romanze. Andante grazioso
11. IV. Finale. Allegro vivace

One could hardly intuit from these fresh and flowing violin sonatas the obstacles their female composers had to face – family opposition for Mel Bonis in France and Ethel Smyth in England, institutional conservatism for Elfrida Andrée in Sweden. It has taken a century and more for that initial prejudice to fall away, and they are now beginning to attract a fair hearing for their music. What ultimately matters, of course, is not whether composers are male or female but whether they write good music, and these three sonatas – melodically expansive, rhythmically vivacious, harmonically warm – point to the musical riches that further exploration of their creators’ output will uncover.

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