Compositrices: New Light on French Romantic Women Composers

Women composers had great difficulty in making their voices heard and gaining recognition during their lifetimes. Even today, they are all too rarely heard in the concert hall or the opera house. That situation obviously cries out for a change in attitude, but then come the questions: all right, let’s programme women composers, but which ones, and which of their works? In this eight-CD set featuring several hundred performers, the Palazzetto Bru Zane offers its initial answer as far as nineteenth-century France is concerned. The selections range over chamber music, orchestral works, piano pieces and songs. They highlight twenty-one female creators, from already identified personalities like Hélène de Montgeroult, Louise Farrenc, Pauline Viardot, Marie Jaëll and Mel Bonis to such completely unknown figures as Charlotte Sohy, Madeleine Jaeger, Marthe Grumbach, Jeanne Danglas, Hedwige Chrétien and Madeleine Lemariey. From now on, there will be no excuse for ignoring Romantic women composers.

Victor Julien-Laferrière, Théo Fouchenneret, Tristan Raës, Cyrille Dubois (soloist), Roberto Prosseda (piano), Alessandra Ammara, Ismaël Margain, François Dumont, Anna Agafia, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Leo Hussain and Anaïs Constans, Anaïs Constans (soloist), Marie Vermeulin, David Zobel, Yann Beuron (soloist), Étienne Manchon, Aude Extrémo (soloist), Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Leo Hussain, Anaïs Constans, Aude Extrémo and François Rougier, François Rougier (soloist), Alexandre Pascal, Héloïse Luzzati and Célia Oneto Bensaid, Alexandre Pascal, Héloïse Luzzati, Célia Oneto Bensaid, Mihály Berecz, Nathalia Milstein

Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse, Quatuor Hanson, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre national de Metz Grand Est, Les Siècles, Leo Hussain, Débora Waldman, Frank Braley, David Reiland, François-Xavier Roth