Composer: Clara Schumann, Mel Bonis, Lili Boulanger, Henriëtte Bosmans, Fanny Mendelssohn
Performer: Lucia Swarts, Elena Malinova
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Challenge Classics
Release: 2022
Size: 447 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
Schumann: Drei Romanzen
01. I. Andante molto
02. II. Allegretto
03. III. Leidenschaftlich schnell
04. Bonis: Sérénade Op. 46 No. 1
05. Boulanger: D`un soir triste
Bosmans: Impressions
06. I. Cortège
07. II. Nuit Calme
08. III. En Espagne
09. Mendelssohn: Fantasia in G Minor
10. Mendelssohn: Capriccio in A-Flat Major
Even as a young child, Lucia Swarts was taught to be extra alert when women did not have the same opportunities as men. Many women did not have the same opportunities as men to compose and publicly share their musical ideas and lead public lives as composers, with some having their freedom limited by ill health or because family or society had different plans for them. Through the ages, female composers encountered considerable difficulties, often with fewer opportunities, support and education, even when they were members of the upper social classes. They were not in a position to enjoy worldwide fame, but several of them accomplished a great deal. Strong women, in other words.
Here, Lucia Swarts has chosen from the works of five special women. Five women with eventful lives who deserve a podium because of their musical qualities. Two Germans – Fanny Mendelssohn and Clara Wieck – both trained in the classic Romantic school, and two French women, Melanie Bonis and Lili Boulanger; Melanie, also a classic Romantic composer in style and Lili, impressionist and exotic. Finally the Dutch composer Henriëtte Bosmans, whose parents influenced her in the German Romantic style but whose own interests wandered eagerly towards the French Impressionists in an ongoing quest for her own independent compositional method.