Radio 3 Record Review
4th February 2023
Record of the Week

Raphaela Gromes (cello), Festival Strings Lucerne, Daniel Dodds, Julian Riem (piano)

Hildegard: O virtus sapientae
Antonia: Da me ti dividi (from Talestri)
Purcell: When I am laid in earth (from Dido and Aeneas)
Mozart: Deh vieni, non tardar (from Le nozze di Figaro)
Schumann, Clara: Romances (3), Op. 22: No. 3
Viardot-Garcia: Bohémienne (from Six Morceux)
Viardot-Garcia: Romance (from Six Morceux)
Viardot-Garcia: Tarantelle (from Six Morceux)
Capuis: Momenti (3) for Cello and String Orchestra
Yagling: Suite for Cello and String Orchestra. II. Aria
Riem: Carmen Fantasie
Price, F: Adoration
Boulanger, N: Three Pieces for Organ
Boulanger, L: Nocturne
Chaminade: Nuit étoilée
Bosmans: Nuit Calme
Tailleferre: Berceuse
Paradis: Sicilienne
Mendelssohn, Fanny: Fantasia
Netzel: Danse Hongroise, Op. 51
Beau: Romanze, Op. 35
Clarke, Rebecca: Epilogue for Cello & Piano
Bacewicz: Moravian Dance (Taniec mazowiecki) for Violin & Piano
Beach, A: Sketches (4) Op. 15 No. 3: Dreaming
White, Dolores: Las Tarantulas
Auerbach: Postludium
Portman: Chocolat Suite
Finneas O'Connell, Billie Eilish O'Connell: No Time to Die

For years the star cellist and Opus Klassik laureate Raphaela Gromes has taken up the cause of women composers. Three of her albums, acclaimed by critics and listeners alike, have featured music by unknown women composers, and she maintains a long-term working relationship with the "Frau und Musik" Archive in Frankfurt. So it is only natural that her new double album, FEMMES, should lend a voice to outstanding women from nine centuries of music history. No fewer than 23 woman composers found their way onto the double album, from Hildegard of Bingen to Clara Schumann all the way to Lera Auerbach and Billie Eilish, not to mention such famous operatic figures as Susanna from Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro or Bizet's Carmen.