 |
Celebrating two hundred and fifty years of music by women |
|
AMBACHE PERFORMANCE PRIZE In 2010 Birmingham Conservatoire set up a prize for the best performance of works by a woman composer. The purpose of the prize is to encourage students to research and perform this repertoire. Twenty two students entered the first competition, seventeen, the second, four groups in the third, and five in the fourth; I was part of the adjudicating panel of the finals on 11/6/10, 10/5/11, 24/4/12 and 1/5/13. I would like to thank Prof David Saint, Acting Principal of the Conservatoire, his staff, and all the excellent students who explored unfamiliar music and produced highly committed performances. The repertoire below is what I heard at the four Finals, and illustrates some of the great range of music that women compose. It is organised by instrumentation. |
| Instrumentation | Title | Composer | Length | Publisher | Comments |
| alto sax & piano | Brilliance | Ida Gotkovsky b1933 | 9' | www.musicroom.com | 4 short movements, ranging from demonstrative to dolce. |
| alto sax & piano | Variations Pathetiques | Ida Gotkovsky b1933 | c10' | www.musicroom.com | 6 short movements: 1) Declamando con passione (declamatory); V) Con simplicita (bluesey). |
| alto sax & piano | Light of Sothis | Amy Quate b1953 | 5' | www.musicroom.com | 3 short movements: Grace, Passion & Faith. |
| alto sax & piano | Chanson et Passepied | Jeanine Rueff 1922-1999 | 4' | www.musicroom.com | Light and graceful. |
| flute & piano | Goldfish Through Summer Rain | Anne Boyd b1946 | 5' | www.musicroom.com | Somewhat undistinguished. |
| flute & piano | Flute Concertino Op 107 (c1902) | Cécile Chaminade 1857-1944 | 8' | www.musicroom.com | An attractive, melodic and decorative piece; the graceful opening melody returns after a more active middle section and cadenza, and comes to a rousing end. |
| mezzo-soprano & piano | Cry, Cock-A-Doodle-Doo (1999) | Alison Bauld b1944 | 3' | Novello | Includes unusual singing into the piano lid and some story telling; entertaining. |
| mezzo-soprano & piano | Chanson Triste (1898) L'amour captif (1893) & Nice-la-belle (1889) | Cécile Chaminade 1857-1944 | 2' & 1.30' & 3' | Sad, swaying, then fun. | |
| mezzo-soprano & piano | Greeting (1928) | Rebecca Clarke 1886-1979 | 2' | ?Boosey | A soft, inner setting of words by Ella Young, with Clarke's penchant for dark atmospheres. |
| mezzo-soprano & piano | The Seal Man (1922) | Rebecca Clarke 1886-1979 | 6' | Boosey & Hawkes | A dark, dramatic setting of words by John Masefield, with a tragic end. |
| mezzo-soprano & piano | Three Shakespeare Songs (1949) | Madeleine Dring 1923-77 | 6' | www.musicroom.com | I. A pastoral romance; II. Plaintive word painting; III. Festive and sometimes sarcastic 'heigh-ho'. |
| mezzo-soprano & piano | A Cornford Cycle (1974) | Elaine Hugh-Jones b1927 | c15' | ? | 8 songs, setting text by Frances Cornford, include Bicker's Cottage, The Old Woman at the Flower Show, and The Madman and the Child. |
| mezzo-soprano & piano | Die Stille Stadt (1910) | Alma Mahler 1879-1964 | 3' | Universal | Fin-de-siècle setting of Richard Dehmal words, including some bold romantic harmonies. |
| mezzo-soprano & piano | Have you seen but a bright lily grow? (1929) | Elizabeth Maconchy 1907-44 | 2' | Chester | Poignant setting of a Ben Johnson poem. |
| mezzo-soprano & piano | Der Mond kommt still gegangen (1842) | Clara Schumann 1819-96 | 2' | ? | Sincere, beautiful contemplation of peaceful moonrise; text by Emanuel Geibel. |
| mezzo-soprano & piano | Sie liebten sich beide (1843) | Clara Schumann 1819-96 | 2' | ? | Halting, quiet tragedy; text by Heirich Heine. |
| mezzo-soprano & piano | Mystyn | Eirian Williams 1958-2006 | 3' | Welsh Sheet Music | A heartfelt Welsh song. |
| mezzo-soprano & piano | The Loom (1960) | Grace Williams 1906-77 | 3' | OUP | A sorrowful Welsh folk song. |
| mezzo-soprano & piano | Bonjour mon coeur | Pauline Viardot 1821-1910 | 2' | www.hildegard.com | Playful, French chanson. |
| mezzo-soprano & piano | Haï Luli; & Les filles de Cadix | Pauline Viardot 1821-1910 | 4' & 3' | ?www.musicroom.com | An attractive pair: sad first, and then dancing a bolero (to Alfred de Musset words). |
| piano | Piano Sonata No 2 (1953) | Grazyna Bacewicz 1909-1969 | 17' | Chappell or PWM | Strong piano writing, with a wide emotional range; central Largo has East European anguish, and final Toccata has good crisp engine drive and cumulative end. |
| piano trio | Piano Trio No 1 Op 11 (1881) | Cécile Chaminade 1857-1944 | 23' | www.hildegard.com | A fine, youthful (age 24) work; a graceful and attractive opening movement, contrasts with the glowing 2nd; piano cascades in the 3rd lead to a spectaular conclusion in the Finale. |
| soprano & piano | White Tara | Veleka Algar b1973 | 3' | veleka1@hotmail.com | Effective use of a Tibetan singing bowl and soprano with vocal harmonics. |
| soprano & piano | Stripsody (1966) | Cathy Berberian 1925-83 | 4' | www.edition-peters.com | A highly amusing collection of onomatopeic sounds of comic strips. Needs good acting. |
| soprano & piano | Requiem (Song Cycle) | Nadezhda Krasnova | c15' | www.ecspublishing.com | Based on A. Achmatova: I. Already Madness, With its Wings. II. Again a Memorial Hour is Near. III You were taken away at Dawn's Mildness. IV. To Death You'll Come in any Case. V. I've cried for Seventeen Long Month. |
| soprano & piano | Cocky Robin | Betty Roe b1930 | 4' | Thames Publishing or www.musicroom.com | A pacy, updated version of a traditional English nursery rhyme. |
| soprano & piano | Five Betjeman Songs (1976) | Madeleine Dring 1923-77 | 12' | www.musicroom.com | A light and entertaining setting of John Betjeman's observations of the British and their surroundings. No 5 is the amusing Song of a Nightclub Proprietress. |
| soprano & piano | Lorelei (1843) | Clara Schumann 1819-96 | 3' | www.hildegard.com | A beautiful setting of Heine's description of the effects of a maiden's singing. |
| soprano & piano | Sechs Lieder aus Jucunde, Op 23 (1855) | Clara Schumann 1819-96 | 15' | www.breitkopf.com | A collection of 6 songs, that she was pleased with, based on Hermann Rollett's novel. |
| soprano & piano | Though Love Be a Day (1979) | Gwyneth Walker b1947 | 16' | www.ecspublishing.com | An attractive, romantic, accessible setting of 5 poems by e e cummings and Gwyneth Walker, with a span of ideas from playful and lighthearted to thoughtful closing. |
| 1 soprano, 2 mezzos & piano | Bring to Life (2012) | Veleka Algar b1973 | 5' | veleka1@hotmail.com | An entertaining sequence, playing with rhythms. |
| 1 soprano, 2 mezzos & piano | Les Sirènes (1911) | Lili Boulanger 1893-1918 | 5' | www.musicroom.com | An attractive setting of a poem by C. Grandmougin, of course, with a French, watery atmosphere. |
| 1 soprano, 2 mezzos | Wand'l ich in dem Wald des Abends (1835) | Fanny Mendelssohn 1805-1847 | 3' | www.furore-verlag.de | A dreamy a cappella walk in the woods, on a poem by Heinrich Heine. |
| 1 soprano, 2 mezzos & piano | Les Trio Belles Demoiselles (c1880) | Pauline Viardot 1821-1910 | 3' | www.musicroom.com | There is some humour, included along with her great melodic skills. |
| string quartet | String Quartet in A Op 44 (c1920) | Halina Krzyzanowska 1860-1927 | 16' | Jacques Hamelle? | An interesting Quartet (by a pianist), with good part writing. A whistful opening movement is followed by a tragic Andante, which includes some beautiful delicate music; the Finale has a slightly pompous manner, with a full-tilt ending. |
| tuba & piano | Concerto for Tuba, 'Wars and Rumous of Wars' (c2006) | Barbara York b1949 | 20' | www.cimarronmusic.com | Not surprisingly, the Marcato opening movement resounds with marching; the yearning Tranquilo then moves on to a mock romantic Furioso, including an evocative bluesey section. |
| viola & piano | Sonata (1919) | Rebecca Clarke 1886-1979 | 16' | www.hildegard.com | This major work ranges from an opening declamatory fanfare, to a playful (and reflective) Vivace, to sensuous virtuosity. |
| viola & piano | Three Romances, Op 22 (1853) | Clara Schumann 1819-96 | 10' | www.sheetmusicplus | These three expressive miniatures transfer from the violin well, and show Clara's characteristic romantic thoughtfulness. |