Short forms by female composers

Anyone interested in the music of female composers will certainly be familiar with Germaine Tailleferre and Mel Bonis. You may also have heard of the Moravian composer Vítězslava Kaprálová or the Alsatian Marie Jaëll, but probably never of Marguerite Roesgen-Champion, Otilie Suková-Dvořáková, Stephanie Zaranek, Vera Winogradowa or Alicia Terzian. All of these composers are represented on a new CD by the Luxembourgish-Swiss pianist Viviane Goergen. She studied in Nancy and Paris and has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in numerous European countries. Her repertoire includes not only the standard works, but also rarities such as the piano works of Lyonel Feininger and Ernst Toch. The fact that she is now devoting herself to unknown piano music by female composers is very welcome. Walter Labhart, who is responsible for the concept of her CD with several first recordings, also wrote the knowledgeable booklet texts.

Viviane Goergen has only recorded miniatures. La Cathédrale blessée by Mel Bonis is the longest work with a duration of five minutes. Written in the middle of the First World War, the piece with the unmistakable This-irae-motif is also a haunting homage to the churches destroyed in the war. However, the majority of the short compositions have a more cheerful and light-hearted character, such as the two works by Dvořák's daughter Otilie, who died young and was married to Josef Suk. Marguerite Roesgen-Champion from Geneva, who lived in Paris, was a pioneer of the harpsichord in the 1930s. Her two movements from the Bucoliques are, like Germaine Tailleferres Siciliennetypical works of French neoclassicism. If Marie Jaëll only painted her Valses Mignonnes her music would be considered quite harmless. In recent years, however, numerous compositions by the famous piano teacher have been recorded that have more substance.

The composer and conductor Vítězslava Kaprálová from Brno wrote her piano cycle for Rudolf Firkušný in 1937 Dubnová Preludia (April Preludes), which contains a variety of moods despite its brevity. It is the most compositionally refined and probably the most important work on the CD and has already been recorded several times.

The two Russians Stephanie Zaranek and Vera Vinogradova both studied with Maximilian Steinberg, Rimsky-Korsakov's son-in-law, among others. Their piano pieces, which were written in the young Soviet Union, are reminiscent of the music of Prokofiev and Glazunov, but without copying it. Much later, in 1954, the Argentinian Alicia Terzian composed the atmospheric Danza Criollawhich is dedicated to her teacher Alberto Ginastera and inspired by Argentinian folk music.

Viviane Goergen's interpretations are elegant and tasteful, which particularly benefits the quiet pieces. The fast movements could sometimes be played a little more fluently and with more temperament. The CD can be recommended to anyone who is interested in little-known piano music, even in the Beethoven year.