First Ladies: Three Romantic Violin Sonatas
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.
Annette-Barbara Vogel, violin
Durval Cesetti, piano
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ELFRIDA ANDRÉE (1841–1929)
- I Allegro con spirito
- II Andante cantabile
- III Finale. Allegro moderato e risoluto
- I Moderato
- II Presto
- III Lento (Thème populaire grec recueilli par Bourgault-Ducoudray)
- IV Final. Con moto
- I Allegro moderato
- II Scherzo. Allegro grazioso
- III Romanze. Andante grazioso
- IV Finale. Allegro vivace
Violin Sonata in B flat major (1872)*
MEL BONIS (1858–1937)
Violin Sonata in F sharp minor, Op. 112 (1922)
ETHEL SMYTH (1858–1944)
Violin Sonata in A minor, Op. 7 (1887)
* FIRST RECORDINGS
Stringendo :
‘[Ethyl Smyth’s sonata] is a dark work, written at a time of great personal emotional upheaval, and Vogel, with Durval Cesetti as her sensitive associate artist, bring a brooding passion to it. A most enjoyable recording of neglected sonatas that hopefully promotes their transition into mainstream repertoire.’
—Susan Pierotti, Stringendo