Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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Arriving just in time for International Women’s Day, the latest addition to Faber Music’s popular line of bumper piano anthologies focuses on music by women composers.
This is Faber Music’s second ‘women composer’ anthology, following in the footsteps of Karen Marshall’s Herstory, which I reviewed here. But while Herstory focused on forgotten classical composers, accompanied by its author’s teaching content, this new collection offers a more cosmopolitan range of music that encompasses contemporary styles.
The format of Faber Music’s Piano Anthologies will by now be familiar to readers, and I have reviewed the whole series here, so let’s jump straight in and consider the music on offer here.
Treasures Old and New
The 52 pieces in The Faber Music Women Composers Piano Anthology were written across four centuries, in a wide variety of musical styles.
They are presented in the book in approximate order of difficulty, and in my view, they are suitable for players from around Early Intermediate (UK Grade 3) to Advanced (Grade 8) level.
Exploring such a varied cornucopia of music, there’s much to enjoy across the whole anthology, something for everyone, perhaps. It is obvious, of course, that the one unifying factor in all this music is the gender identification of the 39 featured composers.
Here, in alphabetical order, is the complete list of music included:
- A Gift [Rachel Portman]
- Adagio non troppo (Sonata Op.5/3) [Hélène de Montgeroult]
- Adagio religioso (Op.42/19 in F sharp major) [Louise Farrenc]
- Andante semplice (from April Preludes) [Víteszlava Kaprálová]
- Andante (3 Romances, Op.11/1) [Clara Schumann]
- Andantino (Op.50/2, Pour la precision dans) [Louise Farrenc]
- Anima I [Olivia Belli]
- Aube (Promenade matinale, esquiesses pour piano) [Marie Jaëll]
- Bébé s’endort (from Scene Enfantines Op.92/7) [Melanie Bonis]
- Berceuse, Op.2 [Dora Pejačević]
- Branwen [Morfydd Llwyn-Owen]
- Brotin [Eydís Evensen]
- By the Still Waters [Amy Beach]
- Chanson sans Paroles Op.10 [Dora Pejačević]
- Chord Left [Agnes Obel]
- Corta-Jaca [Chiquinha Gonzaga]
- d’un jardin clair [Lili Boulanger]
- Earring [Julia Wolfe]
- Eden [Hania Rani]
- Etude No.36 in F major [Hélène de Montgeroult]
- Gai printemps (Impromptu) Op.11 [Melanie Bonis]
- The Goblin and the Mosquito [Florence Beatrice Price]
- Heloísa [Chiquinha Gonzaga]
- Harvest [Cassandra Miller]
- Innocence (from 13 Preludes, No.9) [Jean Coulthard]
- Largo (Piano Sonata Op.2/4) [Anna Bon]
- Legende [Signe Lund-Skabo]
- Lost [Annelie]
- Mi Teresita (Little Waltz) [Teresa Carreño]
- Nocturne (Suite in G minor Op.20) [Agathe Backer Grøndahl]
- Nocturne (2 Canons) [Ethel Smyth]
- Peggy’s Cove [Sarah Watson]
- Piano B [Phildel]
- Prélude [Olivia Belli]
- Prelude and Dance [Imogen Holst]
- Sarabande in D minor (from 4 Dances) [Ethel Smyth]
- Scherzo (from Piano Sonata in G minor) [Clara Schumann]
- Schluss [Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel]
- Scottish Legend (Op.54/1) [Amy Beach]
- Sentiens [Frances Shelley]
- Siciliana. Andante (Sonata in C, Op.1/5) [Elisabetta de Gambarini]
- Solitude [Cécile Chaminade]
- Son Kolo Vikon [Natalia Tsupryk]
- Sonata in ten parts (Part II) [Lisa Illean]
- Souvenance (Op.76/1) [Cécile Chaminade]
- Spinning Dreams at the Washtub [Florence Beatrice Price]
- Springdans (Norske folkeviser og folkedanse Op.33/6) [Agathe Backer Grøndahl]
- Stampa [Hania Rani]
- Strata [Poppy Ackroyd]
- Tempo di minuetto [Marianne von Martinez]
- Wednesday [Aija Alsina]
- Yesil [Büşra Kayıkçı]
In case you are reaching for your copy of Herstory for comparison, I can spare you time: there are just three duplicates here, which is impressive from a commercial perspective, but hardly surprising given the overdue momentum towards discovering and promoting more music written by women.
Faber Music’s latest excavation of the archives and audit of the airwaves has happily uncovered fresh treasures. Alongside Amy Beach’s now-familiar By The Still Waters and Scottish Legend, Gai Printemps by Mel Bonis, and Florence Price’s popular The Goblin and the Mosquito, we find plenty of brand new delights.
Rediscovered gems from Agathe Backer Grøndahl, Hélène de Montgeroult, Víteszlava Kaprálová, and Ethel Smyth appear alongside the contemporary vibes and post-Einaudi minimalism of Hania Rani, Agnes Obel, Frances Shelley, Julia Wolfe, and Olivia Belli. Dipping into those newer discoveries, I found much to enjoy, and several intriguing finds which are likely to grow on me with further familiarisation.
As for the publication, it maintains the high standards of the series, arriving in a lush thick matt card cover, with strong binding and 192 white pages within. The book includes more illustrations than usual, with several full-page black and white images and photographs of women composers distributed throughout, amplifying the ‘girl power’ energy.
It’s my assumption that many of these works are appearing in print for the first time; editor Lucy Holliday has assuredly done fine work here. The scores are spaciously engraved, with a clean music font and crisp printing, and most pieces include minimal fingering suggestions, albeit often not addressing the more particularly tricky passages.
Closing Thoughts
This is the ninth miscellany of music by women composers that I have reviewed here in the last three years. Among these publications, this one perhaps distinguishes itself with its more contemporary vibe, and the absence of narrative text. The characteristic, luxury aesthetics germane to Faber’s Piano Anthology series are also a considerable strength.
This recent spate of women composer collections has happily paved the way for superb scholarly editions of works by Agathe Backer Grøndahl (reviewed here), Florence Price (reviewed here), Cécile Chaminade (reviewed here) and others, which will hopefully solidify the popularity of their music at the heart of the standard repertoire, where it belongs.
The contemporary composers whose music appears in the The Faber Music Women Composers Piano Anthology deserve the same honour, and I hope their music won’t just be marginalised to niche, female-only anthologies.
Publications from Poppy Ackroyd and Rachel Portman happily already exist, and it would be great to see Olivia Belli, Hania Rani and others afforded mainstream publications that enable their music to shine in its own right.
For now, The Faber Music Women Composers Piano Anthology deserves high praise, and delivers a fascinating, highly varied, and rewarding potpourri of music by historic and contemporary female composers. This is a persuasive and pertinent addition to a series which continues to impress.
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