Songs by female composers of the Romantic and late Romantic periods

The songs that the duo Mojca Vedernjak (mezzo-soprano) and Stefka Perifanova (piano) have recorded for the Pianoversal label present a fascinating panorama of the creativity of female composers of the Romantic and late Romantic periods.

Fanny Hensel, Clara Schumann and Pauline Viardot, who are among the most famous female composers of the 19th century, left behind an extensive oeuvre of songs: Fanny Hensel left her subtle settings of Lord Byron's poems in the original English language; this makes them an exception in her oeuvre. One can only regret that Clara Schumann gave up composing after the death of her husband when one hears her impressive songs set to texts by Rückert, Heine and Burns. Pauline Viardot described Mörike's poetry as "the greatest and most genuine in all German poetry after Goethe". The three songs recorded here are good examples of her sensitive art of characterization and psychologization.

Luise Greger's powerful music is yet to be rediscovered after it was often performed until the 1930s. Unlike other female composers, Dora Pejačević is held in high esteem in her native Croatia. The Croatian Music Information Center has republished all of her works, including her numerous songs, in exemplary editions. The further dissemination of her songs, especially those recorded here Three songs op. 53 from 1919/20 based on poems by Friedrich Nietzsche, nothing should really stand in the way. Pejačević's refined harmonies subtly illuminate the texts. Most of Alma Mahler's compositions have been lost. The Five songs by the pupil of Josef Labor and Alexander Zemlinsky were published in 1910 on the initiative of Gustav Mahler. They are indebted to the Viennese fin-de-siècle style.

The songs of the six composers have been recorded many times before. The present recording is no alternative, although the performers have clearly studied the works intensively. Some of the agogic liberties taken by the artists are not indicated by the text. The singer can be forgiven for small lapses in intonation and occasionally not quite correct pronunciation, but her vibrato should have been more decidedly restrained. Unfortunately, the voice also sounds strained and sharp from the upper middle range onwards. Stefka Perifanova accompanies the songs with a distinguished and beautiful sound, but she cannot make up for the recording's shortcomings. It would have been desirable to print the song texts in the booklet, perhaps at the expense of the extensive comparative chronological table with facts from the composers' lives.