BEGINNINGS and ENDINGS (Asher Ian Armstrong)
Critically acclaimed pianist Asher Ian Armstrong presents an album of music by largely unexplored women composers of the 20th century, beautiful and profound works of Amy Beach, Lili Boulanger, Vítězslava Kaprálová, Sophie-Carmen Eckhardt-Gramatté, Ethel Leginska and Dora Pejačević
Perhaps for the reason that the composers in this album occupy a kind of “liminal space” in music history, approaching them from the vantage point of their artistic beginnings and endings constellates a fascinating mosaic. The attention lavished on their forebears and contemporaries has been almost anatomical in its fine grain of detail, such that entire albums have been devoted exclusively to the beginnings or endings of such composers as Brahms, Scriabin, Berg, and others. Yet the composers on this disc remain on the whole largely unexplored (save for some intrepid expeditions into the music of Eckhardt-Gramatté and Amy Beach). In an act of “awful daring,” these artists left behind beautiful, profound works, surrendering their thoughts and their deepest impulses to us. It is up to us to honour this gift, as by this act of performance, they continue to exist.
~Asher Ian Armstrong
AMY BEACH (1867-1944)
5 Improvisations, Op. 148 (1938)
No. 5: Largo maestoso
LILI BOULANGER (1893-1918)
Thème et Variations for piano (1914)
VÍTĚZSLAVA KAPRÁLOVÁ (1915-1940)
Sonata Appassionata, Op. 6 (1934)
I. Maestoso
II. Theme and Variations
SOPHIE-CARMEN ECKHARDTGRAMATTÉ (1899-1974)
Nocturne (1914)
ETHEL LEGINSKA (1886-1970)
Three Victorian Portraits (1959)
I. Nostalgic Waltz
II. A Dirge
III. Heroic Impromptu
DORA PEJAČEVIĆ (1885-1923)
Piano Sonata No. 2 in A-flat, Op. 57 (1921)
Nocturne No. 2 in F-sharp, Op. 50 (1918)
