Kathrin Schmidlin - Opus 1 feminin (2022) [Hi-Res]

Opus 1: Listen to me, here I am! As a Firstling, I want to go public, I want to be printed, played, understood and appreciated. What came before me no longer counts. I lead a life of my own and stand at the beginning of my further development.

After its first performance, Opus 1 attracts more than academic interest. Most of the time, it already has considerable artistic value, like the works by eight female composers from six countries that are brought together here.

While there is evidence of early works by almost all composers before their op. 1 - Béla Bartók, for example, had written more than 70 juvenile works before his Rhapsody op. 1 - and these are often researched with scholarly meticulousness, this does not generally apply to women composers.

However, it can be proven that Clara Schumann-Wieck, probably the most famous female composer today, had already written three variation works before her Quatre Polonaises op. 1.

It is almost impossible to determine which of the less prestigious composers on this CD preceded their op. 1 as actual first works. What is certain, however, is that they are all represented by pieces which, because of their melodic invention and pianistic refinement, deserve to be rescued from oblivion and given a new lease of life.

With early works of a particularly strong character, Alicia Terzian and Vítězslava Kaprálová form a framework anchored in the 20th century for the women musicians from the High and Late Romantic periods who take centre stage: Clara Schumann, Luise Adolpha Le Beau, Mathilde Berendsen-Nathan, Maria Parczewska-Mackiewicz, Cécile Chaminade and Hilda Kocher-Klein. [..]