"A thoroughly convincing and winning recital."

Recording of the Month

"Mitra Kotte opens the conversation printed in the booklet by saying I present a century of music history in which female composers and the their masterful works are highlighted, a statement emphasised by the album’s title. She goes on to say it is inconceivable that…there have been such talented women composers who have created such outstanding works for posterity without being recognised. This is absolutely true in a universal sense; few nowadays would fail to recognise the names, at the very least, of Beethoven, Bach, Mozart etc but I imagine that even keen music lovers would be unaware of many of the names on this disc. Even after many years of actively seeking and collecting rarities of piano music I have not come across Maria Hofer and over half of the works here are new to me. In a more restricted sense several achieved admiration from their peers and the public. Louise Farrenc’s music, for instance was well received by Robert Schumann and she became the second female professor at the Paris Conservatoire, not first as the booklet suggests – Hélène de Montgeroult taught there from 1795-98. Then there was Chaminade whose fame spread far and wide based on a career playing only her own music or Nadia Boulanger who was a well respected musician and teacher though admittedly not really known as a composer.

Louise Farrenc opens proceedings with a flourish, the bold introduction to her Souvenir des Huguenots, just one of roughly twenty variation sets that she wrote in her virtuoso years. It contains all the tricks of the trade – octaves, fast runs in triplets and semiquavers – and has a little contrapuntal writing thrown in for a nod to seriousness; its an audience pleaser and is splendidly written. Emilie Mayer was a German composer, born into a wealthy family and encouraged in her music ambitions by other members of the family after the deaths of both her parents. She cultivated relationships with other composers and conductors and, after settling in Berlin, she had her symphonies and many others works performed. The neglect after her death in 1883 is beginning to thaw a little and there have been several recordings in recent years. Tonwellen is an engaging series of waltzes that spans the gap between Schubert and Chopin.

The next generation opens with the virtuoso Maria Jaëll, who had studied with Ignaz Moscheles and Henri Herz, going on to impress Liszt and Saint-Saëns, both of whom gave her lessons. Indeed Saint-Saëns dedicated his first piano concerto and the treacherous étude en forme de valse to her. Her output includes two impressive piano concertos and a good number of piano solos including this Impromptu which might equally be entitled fantaisie with its vividly contrasting sections, ever changing piano figurations and virtuoso demands. Luise Adolpha Le Beau was another German who studied primarily with Gabriel Rheinberger. She had brief tuition with Clara Schumann and an even briefer encounter with Liszt; disagreement took her away from Clara Schumann after twelve lessons and she was unimpressed with Liszt who apparently furthered neither her career nor her technique. Her variations on an original theme are rather well done; the chordal theme and much of the writing reminded me of Mendelssohn’s variations serieuses and in the same sense are far removed from the lighter variations of Farrenc and others of the time. One could ask for a change of key – the piece is mostly in F minor with a sprinkling of F major – but Le Beau conjures up some imaginative piano writing that makes the piece seem more substantial than its slightly less than six minutes would suggest. There is certainly a richness of texture to this and the Jaëll that is appealing. Cécile Chaminade was a little younger than Jaëll and Le Beau and while she did write an opera and some orchestral works she mostly rose to stardom though her many songs and short piano pieces alongside two worthy piano trios. Her piano sonata is somewhat unusual in that the rest of her piano output consists of relatively short character pieces and salon works, albeit high quality ones. It is an early work that opens with a dramatic allegro appassionato that reaches high climaxes only to suddenly change to contrapuntal writing, an andante that oozes melodic charm and is a real highlight of the piece and a rousing moto perpetuo finale. More familiar is les Sylvains, a sparkling depiction of the woodland spirits from French mythology. Kotte makes a short detour across the Atlantic to highlight Amy Beach, American composer and piano prodigy. Her marriage to Dr Henry Harris Aubrey Beach may have curtailed her performing career but she continued to compose and achieved success with her Gaelic symphony and other works. Her catalogue includes a great many excellent piano works, dreaming, the third of her four Sketches op.15 among them. Each time I hear any of Beach’s piano works I am more convinced that she was among the most gifted piano writers; they are supremely well written, idiomatically laid out for the keyboard and wonderfully melodic and this nocturnal piece is no exception.

It is nice to have four of Dora Pejačević’s Life of flowers, the suite of eight flower portraits that she wrote in the early years of the twentieth century. They are genuinely attractive and have probably been her most popular work, Rose especially appearing many times, though admittedly many of her piano works were not published until many decades after her early death. The writing is akin to Schumann’s though the harmony, warmly romantic as it remains, is much more chromatic than Schumann’s. Snowdrop presumably represents Spring and rebirth with its optimistic tone and playful interludes while Violet is a tender song without words. Passion is found in Rose with its rolling arpeggio accompaniment and lily’s hymn-like and stately mood, it is marked con gravita, points to the chastity and purity that the language of flowers assigns it. A different gravity, that of doom and oppression opens Nadia Boulanger’s Towards a new life, a piece she wrote during the first world war. These echoes of funereal tolling bells gradually begin to lighten, the thick texture unravels and, with hints of Debussy’s la cathédrale engloutie a hesitant optimism is reached. Kotte bypasses the next world war to a facet of this new world as depicted by German composer Maria Hofer, pupil of Franz Schmidt – the machine, an extended toccata. With its hard-edged rhythms and much more modern language it has a certain brutality though there is some more lyrical writing among its constant motion. This motion leads neatly into the first of Vitĕzslava Kaprálová’s April préludes, written a decade before Hofer’s piece though there is a warmth here that is muted in Hofer’s work. This opening prelude is a rather elegant scherzo while the second is an atmospheric piece that grows to passionate heights with a fanfare like motto and a questioning opening theme. The third has the feel of folk melody and the final prelude is a joyous and comic celebration. A wonderful conclusion to what is a very enjoyable recital.

Mitra Kotte is a Vienna-born pianist who really impresses here. She couples a rock solid technique with a buoyant sense of rhythm and a beautiful warm tone. Several pieces here are first recordings but she compares very favourably in those works that have competition; a prime example is Kaprálová’s April préludes that have character, direction, line and, in the case of the first and fourth preludes a dance-like quality that Giorgio Koukl and Leonie Karatas don’t match. A thoroughly convincing and winning recital." Rob Challinor

Read more