After bringing up a young cellist and spending quite some time obsessing with cello music myself, it was a bit of a shock to discover a couple of truly amazing cello pieces from a composer I never heard of before.
The composer is Rita Strohl (1865-1941)
As was the case with many other female composers, her music was played during her lifetime, but forgotten after her death as there was nobody willing to champion it. Some of her works have been rediscovered, published and recorded in recent years.
The pieces are
Grande Sonate Dramatique "Titus et Bérénice" (1898) played by Hermine Horiot & Hélène Fouquart, Youtube
It does have a story to tell, based on the eponymous tragedy by Racine, but on the first couple of hearings I was so blown away by the music I didn't pay any attention to texts between the movements. By the day I first watched this, the video had only around 5860 which is just scandalous.
Solitude for cello (or violin) and piano played by Hermine Horiot, cello & Hélène Fouquart, piano, Youtube
Sheet music for this one is available on IMSLP and it does sound as if it might be playable for mere mortals (unlike the sonata which is pushing the limits of cello technique). On closer inspection, the cello part reaches a couple of quite high notes that I don't use very often (up to the F just over 2/3 up the A string), but the violin version of the solo part fits the instrument range more easily, and it is also very handy for the flute without any alterations. Actually great fun to play on the flute alongside with the cello video.
Here's cellist Sandra Lied Haga raving about Strohl's work in Strad magazine, April 2023. She has released a recording of Titus et Bérénice together with César Franck's sonata in A.
Oh and I've added the two videos to my youtube playlist with female composers.
Thanks to lesser-known-composers on tumblr.
No comments:
Post a Comment