British Piano Music By Women Composers

British Piano Music By Women Composers

£14.25

Peter Jacobs piano

HTGCD 126 – 5060332663132

Product information:
Peter Jacobs explores the contribution made by women composers to the genre of British piano music.

Jacobs writes, ‘This introduction to my CD of piano music by British women composers is being written in the spring of 2025. It seems a highly appropriate time to be doing this. Women musicians are being celebrated everywhere, with books, recordings and concerts all extolling their achievements. Women conductors are the norm and the Master of the King’s Music is a distinguished woman composer. The CD you now possess is a slightly quirky, and certainly a personal offering. If you are looking for a coherent and well-structured sequence, you will be disappointed. Rather, I have dipped into my library of over 60 years’ collecting and arrived at a fairly random selection of pieces, united by being rewarding to play, beautifully written for the instrument, varied in style and intellectual depth. No one idiom dominates. For example, Helen Grimes’s angular and spiky Silver Moon is followed by the more relaxed cocktail bar moods of Madeleine Dring’s Colour Suite. The shadows of Cecilia McDowall’s Vespers in Venice leads to the innocence of Judith Bingham’s Christmas Past, Christmas Present.’

Categories: , ,

Ethel Smyth: Piano Sonata No. 3 (1877)

Ethel Smyth: Piano Sonata No. 2 (1877)

Elizabeth Maconchy: A Country Town (excerpts) (1945)

Grace Williams: The Silent Pool (1932)

Helen Grime: The Silver Moon (2015)

Madeleine Dring: Colour Suite (1963)

Judith Bingham: The Moon Over Westminster Cathedral (2003)

Amy Woodforde-Finden: Indian Love Lyrics (excerpts) (1903)

Cecilia McDowall: Vespers in Venice (2002)

Judith Bingham: Christmas Past, Christmas Present (1991)

Betty Roe: A Mystery of Cats (excerpts) (1994)

Sally Beamish: Lullaby for Owain (2016)

Raie Da Costa: Gigue (1930)

Raie Da Costa: Moods (1930)

Liza Lehmann: Cobweb Castle (excerpts) (1908)

Reviews

  1. admin –

    ‘This is a most enjoyable disc which stands up well to being experienced in one sitting, for all Jacob’s protest of a lack of coherence and structure. I would warmly recommend it to anyone with a liking for elegant and well-written keyboard music.’ Martyn Strachan, British Music Society

  2. admin –

    ‘There’s not a dull moment in this generous, ingeniously conceived and well-executed recital: it deserves every success.’ International Piano, Autumn 2025

  3. admin –

    ‘This disc offers an excellent selection of British piano works by women. The playing displays understanding, lyrical charm and rhythmic verve. Not all these works resonate: some are underwhelming, but overall, the collection demands exploration of this rarely heard repertoire reflecting character, wit, and emotional depth. John France, MusicWeb International Summer 2025

  4. admin –

    ‘At around 75 minutes, this concert-length recital can be enjoyed as a continuous sequence or in any number of selections. It helps when Jacobs is so persuasive an exponent of this music……Piano sound is as full and spacious as expected given its Wyastone source, while Jacobs contributes laconically insightful notes on the recital overall. Most enjoyable.’ Richard Whitehouse, Arcana FM

Only logged in customers who have purchased this product may leave a review.

Related products