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Pioneers – Piano Works by Female Composers
Hiroko Ishimoto (piano)
rec. June and July, 2019 at Phoenix Studio, Budapest
GRAND PIANO GP844 [77:30]

This representative collection brings together piano works by female composers written over a period of over 260 years ranging from the sprightly Sonata in B flat major by Anna Bon to the unusual duality of Miyake Haruna's 43º North – a tango. The opening piece is one of the most beautiful; Rose, the fifth of a cycle of 8 pieces entitled Blumenleben (life of flowers) by the Croatian composer Dora Pejačević. She had several teachers including Percy Sherwood (1866-1939) though she was self-taught. I have long admired her Phantasie Concertante for piano and orchestra (CPO 7774182 Review) and it is good to hear such a lovely example of her solo piano music; love and passion are the principle aspects on display in her lovely portrayal. Chaminade's Valse-Caprice is an infectious dance, light-hearted and genial. Ishimoto brings across its joi de vivre with great enthusiam. In a complete contrast we have a real rarity, the short Sonata no.2 by Venetian Anna Bon. She entered music school in Venice at the tender age of 4 and at only 16 became “chamber music virtuosa” at the court of Frederick the Great of Prussia. The Sonata is in three short movements, a lively allegro non molto with a consistent dotted note rhythm to its themes, a stately andante and a spirited finale that has features akin to Scarlatti's sonatas.

Moving back to the 19^th century and a composer who is recognised more and more for her gifts, Clara Schumann. She wrote several Romances; this example in A minor opens with a heartfelt Andante, with a yearning sadness. The central section is more agitated and has a brighter feel though it doesn't entirely escape the melancholic mood. Norwegian pianist and composer Agathe Backer Grøndahl wrote a decent amount of music for her instrument though it has largely been ignored. Natalia Strelchenko's 5 discs of the complete piano music is very hard to come by (Arena records, no details available) but a single disc played by Geir Henning Braaten is worth a listen (BIS1106 not reviewed). Her warmly romantic style is represented by two works; The Humoresque in G minor is a cheeky little polka-like dance. A minor point to note is that both Ms Ishimoto and Braaten halve the speed of the two bars just prior to the ending each time it appears – perhaps there is a different edition to the one I am using. The Albumblad from her 3 Clavierstykker op.35 is a song without words, its melody soon adorned with some delicate decorative flourishes. American composer Amy Beach composed prolifically; in her marriage her performances were restricted to two concerts per year though it appears she was encouraged in her composition. She still thought of herself as a pianist first and foremost so it is no surprise that she wrote many fine works for the piano. Hermit Thrush at Eve is the first of two pieces depicting the song of the Hermit Thrush (its companion is Hermit Thrush at Morn). The main body of this meditative, impressionistic piece is a combination of rising and falling scalic melodies through which the song of the thrush is heard in fragmentary snatches. The Scottish Legend is a glorious evocative miniature. The majestic opening motif first tells its tale in a minor mode, full of Highland snaps whilst the central section turns this same motif into an heroic fanfare, redolent of the wild country and its rich history.

Hungarian Emma Schlesinger married banker Henrik Gruber and together they moved to Budapest where she studied with Ernst von Dohnányi and Béla Bartók before becoming a pupil of Zoltán Kodály. Pupil and teacher fell in love and she left her husband to marry Kodály in 1910. Like Backer Grøndahl, Kodály wrote predominantly songs and piano pieces. Her Valse Viennoises is a set of interconnecting waltzes after the fashion of Johann Strauss, now energetic, now tranquil. There is a lovely moment where the left hand takes over the waltz [3:58] with a gently rippling accompaniment. Emma Kodály lived to the grand age of 95; Lili Boulanger was not so fortunate, cut down by pneumonia and tuberculosis at just 24 years old. Her creativity in that short time was outstanding and I treasure the time I played celeste in her sumptious Faust et Hélène. On a smaller scale we hear her Trois Morceaux; all are impressionistic and are none the worse for hinting at Debussy though her harmony takes different turns. D'un vieux jardin for example juxtaposes C sharp minor and F major; it is introspective, dark-hued and much is made of the syncopated, descending figure that opens the piece. The genial waltz that is D'un jardin clair is less ambigious harmonically though it has some intriguing bell like sonorities. If I expected a stately noble procession from Cortége I was wrong. A procession it may be but this is an excited bustle, carnival performers or circus artists perhaps, hurrying along in this helter-skelter courante. The name of Francisca 'Chiquinha' Gonzaga was completely unknown to me. Born in Rio de Janeiro she studied with José de Sousa Lobo and Portuguese pianist and composer Artur Napoleão. Despite facing male criticism for her choice of career she became famous for her polkas, waltzes and tangos (and “ditties” as one site notes) though she also wrote an opera, Maria, in her eighty-fourth year. Cananéa is a waltz with more than a touch of Chopin about it though this is Chopin with a tan. This is followed by her brazilian tango Água do Vintém, vibrant and full of energy, that has something of the feel of Nazareth's Odéon. I was pleasantly surprised by Badarzewska's Douce Rêverie only previously being familiar with her once ubiquitous Maiden's prayer. The subtitle, Mazurka, sums it up better than Sweet reverie and whilst it ventures little further harmonically than its more famous stable-mate it is an attractive, unassuming little dance. Florence Price was born in Arkansas and studied with George W Chadwick as well as at the New England Conservatory. Though many of her works were unpublished and the manuscripts were perilously close to being lost forever, much of her music is now finding an audience. As well as 4 symphonies, concertos for piano and violin and several choral and chamber works she wrote many works for the piano. From her Sonata in E minor Hiroko Ishimoto has chosen the andante. Price made many piano arrangements of spirituals and the idiom was evidently a comfortable one for her in that the melody that opens the movement, while it is original, has the feel of a spiritual. The elegant treatment of this melody is interspersed with more overtly passionate and rhapsodic sections.

I confess that I was unaware that Tatyana Nikolayeva had composed anything. It appears that in addition to the short pieces on this album there is a Symphony, a piano quintet and a song cycle. Nikolayeva's Childrens' Album follows in the tradition of Schumann and, closer to home, Tschaikowsky or Kabalevsky with its short, attractive character pieces. The Marche is a quirky little piece with some gentle harmonic piquancy. The upper reaches of the keyboard are used to imitate a Music box in a pretty little waltz and if someone had told me the Old waltz was actually a Ländler by Schubert I would not have been that surprised. All three are charming works.

Like Boulanger Vítĕzslava Kaprálová died in her mid twenties. She studied with Vítĕzslav Novák and Bohuslav Martinů and composed a substantial amount in her short life. Her Dubnová preludia (April Preludes) were written in 1937 for the pianist Rudolf Firkušný and Ishimoto has chosen the second, marked andante for this recording. It is in marked contrast to everything we have heard so far, its harmonies disquieting and its mood endlessly shifting. The stillness of the unsettled first theme becomes almost pastorale at its re-appearance and there is an almost harsh exultancy to the final page. The work opens with an obstinate G clashing with an A flat harmony. Kapralova wrenches at this clash until the A flat prevails and leads us inexorably to the forceful close in D flat. There is a wandering, phantasmagoric feel to this prelude that belies its brevity. It is followed by the longest piece on offer here, the deconstructed tango that is 43º North. This is noted as the 2019 version for piano though no indication of its original incarnation is made. It begins, not entirely surprisingly, in tango mood; conventional harmony and unmistakeable rhythm, a tango that could have come from any time in the 20^th century and been found in any dance hall on pretty much any continent. A cadential point arrives and all changes; the tango theme is distorted into a short motif, detached in both form and articulation, fading in and out of irregular note clusters and accented, discordant chords. The regular rhythm becomes a fragmentary thing, that almost allows the tango rhythm to regain control whenever any semblance of order appears only to veer off on a tangent back into its world of unrest. The tango does eventually return but it is not long before both worlds collide, the tango valiantly trying to hold its own as the dance-floor begins to disintegrate and disorder returns before the dance ends with two decisive chords.

One can't complain about the breadth of music on offer here, though it does seem to feature the romantic era quite strongly. Boulanger's is a gentle impressionism and Nikolayeva is firmly and pleasantly diatonic in her short excerpts. Only the final two works on the disc step outside of this soundworld. Even as a confirmed romantic listener I wonder if a more varied palette of styles might have provided a more balanced picture but this is nonetheless an entertaining recital of some very attractive and mostly quite rare piano pieces. Hiroko Ishimoto has a clean technique and is very effective in works like the Chaminade Valse-Caprice. I was very taken with her shaping of the opening piece but I feel she does not always phrase melodies to their best; the opening of Backer Grøndahl's Albumblad feels a little plodding though she settles into the phrasing as the piece continues. On the whole this is an attractively presented album that will hopefully provide a springboard for exploring more of the music of these composers.

Rob Challinor

Contents
Dora PEJAĈEVIĆ (1885-1923)
Blumenleben No.5 – Rose Op.19 No.5 (1904-5) [2:24]
Cécile CHAMINADE (1857-1944)
Valse-Caprice Op.33 (pub.1885?) [5:09]
Anna BON (1739?-after1769)
Keyboard Sonata in B flat Op.2 No.2 (pub.1757) [6:44]
Clara SCHUMANN (1819-1896)
Romance in A minor Op.21 No.1 (1853-55) [5:15]
Agathe BACKER GRØNDAHL (1847-1907)
Morceaux No.3 – Humoresque in D minor Op.15 No.3 (pub.1882) [4:13]
Amy BEACH (1867-1944)
Hermit Thrush at Eve Op.92 No.1 (1921) [4:58]
Scottish Legend Op.54 No.1 (1903) [3:38]
Emma KODÁLY (1863-1958)
Valses Viennoises (c1925) [9:57]
Lili BOULANGER (1893-1918)
3 Morceaux pour piano (1914) [6:21]
Chiquinha GONZAGA (1847-1935)
Cananéa, Valsa (1900?) [3:22]
Água do Vintém (pub.c.1897) [2:04]
Agathe BACKER GRØNDAHL
Klaverstykker 2 – Albumblad Op.35 No.2 (pub.1894) [2:15]
Tekla BADARZEWSKA-BARANOWSKA (1834-1861)
Douce Rêverie (Mazurka) (pub.1863) [1:52]
Florence Beatrice PRICE (1887-1953)
Piano Sonata in E minor – II Andante (pub.1932) [4:23]
Tatyana NIKOLAYEVA (1924-1940)
Album for Children selection Op.19 (1958) [3:39]
Vítĕzslava KAPRÁLOVÁ (1915-1940)
April Preludes – andante Op.13 No.2 (1937) [2:45]
Miyake HARUNA (b.1942)
43º North – a tango (piano version 2019) [7:19]