International women's day + music

Started by pjme, March 08, 2021, 03:15:36 AM

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Florestan

Quote from: Mirror Image on March 09, 2021, 07:23:14 AM
I'm happy to draw from say 50 composers and even with this number of composers, I find it quite overwhelming.

Same here, John.

TD: my favorite woman composer is Chaminade C hands down. Then Mendelssohn F, Farrenc L and Schumann C.  :D
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

bhodges

Quote from: amw on March 08, 2021, 10:43:39 PM
No, this is a list created by going thru all of the female composers in my library (currently: 403 of them) and picking out the ones who either I think composed great music, or I might not think much of myself but are widely considered to have composed great music by others. This is obviously a non-exhaustive list as I have never heard anything by e.g. Milada Červenková or Margaret Brouwer or Jessie Montgomery (to name three more people who appeared in this thread) and therefore am potentially missing out on a lot more great music that simply doesn't get recorded or performed in a way I can access it.


Thanks, amw, your comprehensive list reminded me of two (at least) whose work I admire a lot and could have included on my list: Galina Ustvolskaya and Kate Soper. The former's works can be almost shockingly severe. (I love her use of wooden blocks.) And Soper is one of the most talented young composers working today. Her ability to combine music, words, and movement is unique, and she brings a high level of intellectual fun to the results.

--Bruce

amw

Quote from: Florestan on March 09, 2021, 06:52:47 AM
You're wrong. Canat de Chizy É, Paredes H and Tulve H mops the floor with Debussy, Ravel and Bartok any day.  ;D
You have to compare like with like; you wouldn't say "Bach is a better composer than Chopin" because they worked in very different times, places and stylistic contexts. So Édith Canat de Chizy can be compared to other French composers of her generation (e.g. Pascal Dusapin, Michael Jarrell, Tristan Murail, Hugues Dufourt) where an informed assessment should find her at least as good as any of them; Hilda Paredes to other Mexican composers of her generation (e.g. Julio Estrada, Mario Lavista) where again, same thing; Helena Tulve to other Baltic composers of her generation (e.g. Vykintas Baltakas, Erkki-Sven Tüür, Onutė Narbutaitė). If you are looking at Debussy and Ravel, you would want to look at their stylistic peers, in this case including Boulanger and Clarke, who are certainly their equals (along with e.g. Delius, Vaughan Williams, etc). If you are looking at Bartók, you would want to look at his stylistic peers, in this case including Bacewicz (along with e.g. Kodály, Enescu, Szymanowski, etc.). All it takes is a reasonable degree of historical awareness and informed listening.

Quote from: OrchestralNut on March 09, 2021, 07:05:36 AM
Which works do you have for Ann Southam?

I only have one disc of her music, but it is a good one. It's called "Simple Lines Of Enquiry", for solo piano. Very atmospheric.
Simple Lines of Enquiry was my introduction to her music as well, which now includes several more discs of piano music plus a CBC portrait album. I think my favourite overall of her pieces are the ones on the album Returnings, also played by Eve Egoyan. She is I think one of the major postminimalist composers currently active; at least as important as (and much more to my personal taste than) the Bang on a Can trio.