DA VINCI PUBLISHINGHER JOURNEY: Flute and Piano Works by Women

Additional information

Artist(s)	Anna Rutkowska-Schock, Ewa Kowalski
Composer(s)	Amanda Harberg, Ewa Fabiańska-Jelińska, Karen Lemon, Mel Bonis, Sally Greenaway
EAN Code	7.46160917894
Edition	Da Vinci Classics
Format	1 Cd
Genre	Chamber
Instrumentation	Flute, Piano
Period	Contemporary
Publication year	2024

Description

Her Journey takes the listener on an inspiring musical and spiritual sojourn around the globe. This compilation of new and rare works for flute and piano by female composers presents a fascinating adventure, leading between absorbing moments and cherished experiences of people with the same feelings, needs, and desires that we all share. Within each piece we are privileged to witness part of the composer’s aesthetical and biographical itinerary. It is also a portion of the greater path of music history as a whole, and of female composers’ contribution to it, in particular.

The limitedness of each one of these experiences is transcended, precisely by their appearing together in this album. The pieces included span of more than a century, in which the role of femininity and women within music has dramatically changed, even though much evolution awaits the future. Whilst the striking quality of these works and the performers is apparent, there remains need for an album such as this, offering “ladies-only” music. True equality of gender in music will be reached only when there will be no necessity to create musical “safe spaces” for the female voice.
Until then, of course, initiatives such as this are not only laudable, but commendable and simply necessary.

The flute and piano duet lends itself especially well to such a project, since both instruments have a long history of female practice. In Western music (but also in other cultures) there are “gendered” instruments and others played by musicians of both sexes since time immemorial. At times, these gendered assignations are more or less justified, either by physical demands, or by extramusical associations.
For instance, instruments such as the trumpet or the drums, traditionally associated with military music, were virtually never played by female musicians for most of the history of Western music. Other instruments like the double bass or the tuba were considered unsuited to female players due to their size or weight. Finally, in some cases there were genuinely musical traits of an instrument which were considered plainly not feminine: the timbres and massive sound of some brass instruments, or the low register of some basses were segregated from the idea of properly female musicianship. Today, of course, no such taboos exist; however, either because there was a kernel of reason in some of these exclusions, or because ladies are simply unattracted by these instruments (or are unwilling to carry their immense cases everywhere!).

The flute and the piano, by way of contrast, have always been intimately tied to feminine musicianship, although, of course, neither of these instruments has been almost exclusively bound to it (as is the case with the harp, for instance). It can be said, therefore, that the flute and piano duet is one of the typical expressions of female music, particularly if conceived in the domestic dimension of home music-making, but with equally important presences on stage.

Bonis: Sonata “Belle Epoque” (composed in 1904)
The flute was one of the favourite instruments of Mel Bonis, the nom de plume of Mélanie-Hélène Bonis, the oldest among the composers represented here. The story of her life seems almost to evoke a nineteenth-century novel, a sadly predictable and pathetic one, at that. The child of a bourgeois family, her burgeoning musical talent was not recognised by her parents; she continued her self-guided piano study until age 12, when she was at last noticed by a family friend, who persuaded her parents to allow their daughter to receive musical education.
Despite minimal nurturing in early years, Bonis’ musical ability soared with the best teaching Paris had to offer: she studied under César Franck, amongst her fellow students, Claude Debussy and Gabriel Pierné.

Knowing that listeners would never take a female composer seriously, she wisely disguised her femininity under the pen-name of Mel Bonis. She also had to fight traditional French and Catholic notions of what was proper for a woman, even having a secret lover and a child which she hid for many years. Torn between accepting society’s prejudiced standards and fighting the whims of her parents caused her a lifetime of psychological struggles; in spite of this, her composing and teaching endured, leading to the dissemination of her oeuvre. Unfortunately, her works fell into quasi oblivion for many years after her death, until one of Mel’s granddaughters, working with musicologists, managed to unearth Bonis’ scores, and to play and record them.

The Flute Sonata marks a milestone in Bonis’ artistic life. Until then, her talent had expressed itself mainly in the form of short character pieces – from this Sonata onwards she tackled the august genres of formal art music. This pioneering work was to be followed by a Cello Sonata and a Piano Quartet.

Bonis premiered this Sonata herself, alongside with its dedicatee, Louis Fleury. The comparatively traditional structure of Bonis’ Sonata failed to find adequate appreciation amongst the elitist modern tastes of the French musical establishment. Disparagingly defined as scarcely a Sonata proper, but rather a “pastoral suite”, “short and unpretentious”, this gem is one of the works which rightfully earned Mélanie-Hélène Bonis lasting fame.

The other works in this Da Vinci Classics album are more recent, but, together with Bonis’ Sonata, harmonise in this “journey of journeys” within the world of female musicianship.

Harberg: Court dances (composed in 2017)
American composer and pianist Amanda Harberg is a known for bringing brightness, lyricism, and happiness to her works. Court Dances, initially inspired by the fast, syncopated bounce of a squash ball, grew into a joyous three-movement suite, referencing 16th and 17th century dances of the aristocracy. It was co-commissioned by a group of 57 flutists from around the world.

The first movement, Courante, reflects the lively character and triple meter typical of its Baroque namesake. The dramatic, flowing Air de Cour offers a beguiling and deceptively sweet contrast to the more rhythmic outer movements. The dynamic final movement, Tambourin, alludes to both the eponymous Provençal dance immortalized by Frenche Baroque composers, and the French drum through its accents, syncopation, and percussive effects.
Greenaway: Of Moths and Moonlight (composed in 2023)
Over many centuries, moths have been used as symbols of transformation, allegories for the fleeting nature of life. Artists are drawn to the moth’s beauty and fragility, as well as its elusive nature. When darkness descends, moths emerge, their iridescent wings like precious fluttering jewels, glittering in the moonlight. They dance longingly, flying amongst the stars for their nocturnal dances.
Of Moths and Moonlight evokes their delicate path through the night, with extensive use of soft piano tremolos, whilst the flute sings tenderly of the moth’s journey. This imagery becomes a metaphor for the unpredictability of life and the sense of loss and emptiness that accompanies the passing of a loved one. As the piece unfolds, we are drawn into a profound landscape, tinged with complex melancholy and evoking a deep sense of longing.
Along with this, there are also moments of sublime beauty and ethereal lightness.
As the piece nears its conclusion, it gradually becomes increasingly transcendent, bringing a sense of catharsis and release that transports the listener to a new place of understanding and enlightenment.
The brief and fragile life of the moth, whose contemplative companion is the moon resting among the stars, serves as a reminder of the intrinsic power of music to heal and transform our hearts and souls.
Of Moths and Moonlight was commissioned by the Bowral Autumn Music Festival 2023, where composer Sally Greenaway was the Festival Composer.

Fabiańska-Jelińska: Arabeska (composed in 2013) The inspiration for this composition was legendary composer Witold Lutosławski. His works are apparent in Fabiańska-Jelińska’s elements such as the overarching form and the features of the harmonic language, for instance in the construction and reconfiguration of sound agglomerates from several different chords. Equally seen are characteristics associated with the ‘arabesque’ – liberal use of ornamentation, lightness, transience of sound phenomena, and reference to the musical culture of the Middle East.

Lemon: Tangent Blues (composed in 2017)
This piece was written for Ewa Kowalski.
Tangent Blues is at its heart an honest blues, in the sense of a jazzy theme and variations. Karen Lemon’s work flies off on tangents (albeit arguably logical ones), as the composer states, rendering it like a jazz sonata form. Of course, it is a piece to be played with verve and swagger. Tangent Blues draws from the performer several “personas”, such as alarm clock, dragonfly, angel, double bass and braggart merchant, and of course, flutist, amongst others.
Chiara Bertoglio © 2024

Artist(s)

Anna Rutkowska-Schock completed her piano studies under Prof. Helena Furmanowicz and Prof. Grzegorz Kurzyński at the K. Lipiński Academy of Music in Wrocław, Poland. As a teenager, she was a finalist in the 1992 European Chopin Competition in. In 1997, she received a scholarship from Dr. Madeleine Forte to attend Boise State University.
In 2003, Anna was awarded Best Accompanist at the IBLA Grand Prize International Music Competition in Sicily, leading to multiple performances at Carnegie Hall in New York. She has served as a staff accompanist for international competitions in Rome, Peru, Slovakia, Sicily, and Poland, earning over 50 awards as Best Piano Collaborator. Anna has been a jury member for the IBLA Grand Prize International Competition and the International Piano Competition in Surabaya.
In 2006, she received a full scholarship to the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California. The following year, she directed the Festival of American Music in Wrocław. Anna has released six CDs featuring French and contemporary music. Since 2016, she has been a member of The Hourglass Ensemble, performing internationally, including at the Sydney Opera House and on the Australian fine music broadcasting network.
Anna served as the official pianist for the Australian Flute Festival in 2019 and 2023, performing a recital of Ian Clarke's compositions with the composer in 2019. In 2022, she lectured and performed in San Germán, Puerto Rico. With performances on five continents and collaborations with artists from around 40 countries, Anna is a respected educator, holding a post-doctoral degree and teaching at the Academy of Music and the Secondary Music School in Wrocław.

Ewa Kowalski
Ewa Kowalski studied flute under Prof. Jerzy Mrozik at the Karol Lipiński Conservatorium of Music in Wroclaw, Poland, earning her Master of Music in Performance. She won first prizes at the International Woodwind and Brass Competition in Wroclaw and the National Flute Competition in Olsztyn, among other accolades. Ewa was awarded the Young Musician Scholarship by the Polish Minister of Culture and National Heritage and received a full scholarship to William Bennett’s International Flute Summer School in England, enhancing her chamber music expertise.
After relocating to Australia, Ewa has performed widely, including solo recitals at the Consulate General of Poland in Sydney and the PolArt Classical Music Festival. A finalist at the Sydney Flute Festival Open Flute Competition, she has collaborated with ensembles such as Wind Energy Ensemble, Sydney Contemporary Orchestra, and the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra. As a founding member of The Hourglass Ensemble, Ewa has performed extensively across Australia, Poland, Austria, Germany, and Switzerland, including notable appearances at the City Recital Hall, Melbourne Recital Centre, and Sydney Opera House.
Ewa has been featured on the Australian fine music broadcasting network and premiered Margery Smith's "Everything I Touch" Flute Concerto at the Sydney Opera House. She was a guest artist at the Australian Flute Festivals in 2019 and 2023 and served as an adjudicator at the Young Artist Competition in 2023. Ewa shares her expertise with her flute students at several renowned colleges in Sydney.
Anna and Ewa first met in 2016 during The Hourglass Ensemble’s European Tour. Over the past eight years, their Polish-Australian collaboration has flourished, culminating in a new album. They regularly perform together in Australia, both as a duo and within the larger Hourglass Ensemble, showcasing their distinctive collaborative synergy.

Composer(s)

Amanda Harberg is a composer whose work has been described by the New York Times as “a sultry excursion into lyricism.” Her writing for a wide range of instruments weaves classical Western tradition with contemporary influences to create a distinctively personal style which “conveys a thoroughly original sense of happiness in music,” according to Cleveland Classical. “She invigorates the brain and touches the soul,” says composer John Corigliano. “I love her work.”

Her work has been conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, JoAnn Falletta, David Alan Miller and David Lockington, among others. She has been commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra Association, the New World Symphony, the Grand Rapids Symphony, the Juilliard School, the Albany Symphony’s Dogs of Desire, the New Jersey Youth Symphony, the Dorian Wind Quintet, the Bay Atlantic Symphony, the Harmonium Choral Society, and the Network for New Music. She has also received many consortium commissions for new recital works.

Harberg’s recently completed Piccolo Concerto will be premiered by the Philadelphia Orchestra, renowned piccoloist Erica Peel, and conducted by Maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin on the Fall 2021 Digital Stage series. Her Concerto for Viola and Orchestra, and her Elegy for Viola and Strings, were each performed by violist Brett Deubner and orchestras worldwide, and can be heard on Naxos American Classics with the Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra.

Her work has also been presented at leading institutions including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Verizon Hall, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and Bargemusic. Her recent works for flute and piccolo have won numerous awards and Harberg “has become something of a hero to the flute and piccolo community along the way,” notes the website of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Harberg has received a Fulbright Hays fellowship, the Juilliard School’s Peter Mennin prize, two New Jersey State Council on the Arts Fellowships, a New York State Council on the Arts Fellowship, and a MacDowell Colony summer residency. Her chamber music has also won four Newly Published Music Awards from the National Flute Association. Her music is published by Theodore Presser Company and her work has been recorded on many labels including Naxos American Classics and Koch International.

As the in-house composer for Common Good Productions, Harberg has composed scores for The Abominable Crime, an award winning feature documentary, and Beyond Borders: Undocumented Mexican Americans which aired over 2,000 times on PBS stations across the country, as well as a number of shorter films for Common Good Productions.

Also active as a concert-level pianist, Harberg has recently performed with principals of major orchestras including Erica Peel (Philadelphia Orchestra), Martin Chalifour (Los Angeles Philharmonic), YaoGuang Zhai (Baltimore Symphony), Robert Langevin (New York Philharmonic), Dennis Kim (Pacific Symphony), and Mindy Kaufman (New York Philharmonic), as well as with close colleagues Julietta Curenton, Valerie Coleman, Adrian Morejon, Benjamin Fingland, and Jessica Meyer.

Dr. Harberg is a dedicated educator with more than two decades of experience teaching composition, piano, music theory, aural skills, and 20th/21st century music history. She is in her sixth year of teaching composition at Rutgers University Mason Gross School of the Arts, and in the summers she is on the composition faculty at the Interlochen Arts Camp. Harberg began teaching through the Morse Fellowship program, which sends Juilliard students into New York City public schools. She also served on the faculty of the Juilliard School’s Music Advancement Program, which is dedicated to educating students from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds. Harberg has also taught composition at the the Luzerne Music Center, the Rocky Ridge Music Center, and the ASTA Chamber Music Institute. Harberg is a frequent guest at schools and universities where she particularly enjoys speaking to students about how to live an artistically vital and authentic life in today’s society.

Dr. Harberg completed her undergraduate and masters degrees at the Juilliard School and earned her PhD from Rutgers University School of Graduate Studies. She received a Fulbright/Hays fellowship to study for a year with composer/pianist Frederic Rzewski. Currently living with her family in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, Harberg is on the faculty at Rutgers University Mason Gross School of the Arts and the Interlochen Arts Camp.

Ewa Fabiańska-Jelińska began studying composition at an early age in Torun, later graduating with honors from the Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznań, Poland, where she earned her PhD in composition in 2016 and her habilitation degree in 2023. She also completed postgraduate studies at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna under Prof. R. Karger. A highly accomplished composer, she has won numerous prestigious national and international competitions, including prizes from Oklahoma City University, the European Young Composers Competition in Prague, and international composition competitions in Vienna, New York, and Madrid.

Her compositions are performed worldwide at leading festivals and concerts of contemporary music across Europe, Asia, the Americas, and Australia, showcasing her work on prestigious stages and in collaboration with renowned ensembles, soloists, and conductors. Her music has been featured at events such as the International Music Days in Tongyeong, South Korea, and the SCI Conference at the University of New Mexico. Performances of her works include appearances by celebrated artists and groups such as Katherine McIndoe, Jean-Marc Fessard, Stefan Kamasa, NeoQuartet, the Amadeus Polish Radio Chamber Orchestra, and Sinfonietta Cracovia.

Fabiańska-Jelińska’s contributions to music have been recognized with numerous scholarships, including those from the Minister of Culture and National Heritage and the Minister of Science and Higher Education. In 2021, her first monographic album, Chamber Music, was released by DUX Recordings, solidifying her reputation as a leading voice in contemporary music. Her works are published by prominent publishers, including PWM Edition, DUX, and Norsk Musikforlag.

A member of the Polish Composers Union and the Polish Society of Contemporary Music, she currently serves as an assistant professor at the Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznań. In 2021, she received the honorary badge "Merit for Polish Culture," further highlighting her significant contributions to the field.

Karen Lemon is an Australian composer and musicologist. She holds a Bachelor of Music Education (with merit) with a Major in piano (having studied with Albert Landa and Adene McInnes) and Minor in composition (having studied with a number of prominent Australasian composers, including Anne Boyd and Gillian Whitehead) from the NSW State Conservatorium of Music as well as a Bachelor of Music (First Class Honours) in Musicology from the University of Sydney. Her PhD in Musicology, on Schoenberg’s post-tonal music c.1910, was also awarded by the University of Sydney. Studies in Dalcroze Eurhythmics took Karen abroad – her Certificate in Dalcroze Eurhythmics from NSW State Conservatorium of Music was undertaken with supplementary examination at the Institut Jaques-Dalcroze in Geneva, Switzerland, and from Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA she gained both the Certificate and License in Dalcroze Eurhythmics.

As a performer, Karen was active in Sydney as a chorister and vocalist, most notably as a foundation and lifetime member of the new music choir The Contemporary Singers and as founder and director of and arranger for the pop-jazz a cappella ensemble The Five Skins.

Despite studies in composition in her undergraduate days, it has only been in recent years that Karen has returned to it. She has been privileged to have had her music performed in locations as diverse as Sydney, Los Angeles, New York and Cambridge, and by such distinguished performers as Thomas Hutchinson, Artur Cimirro and Gwion Thomas. Karen has composed music by commission or on request for CAMS, Hourglass Ensemble and the University of Bristol Schola Cantorum, and several of her works have been prizewinners in composition competitions, including Gesualdo Six, Renée B. Fisher and Opus Dissonus.

Karen has worked as a lecturer in Musicology at the Conservatoriums of the University of Sydney and the University of Tasmania, and is an Associate Represented Artist with the Australian Music Centre. She currently divides her time between Australia and France.
As a performer, Karen was active in Sydney as a chorister and vocalist, most notably as a foundation and lifetime member of the new music choir The Contemporary Singers and as founder and director of and arranger for the pop-jazz a cappella ensemble The Five Skins.

Mel Bonis
(b Paris, 21 Jan 1858; d Sarcelles, Seine-et-Oise, 18 March 1937). French composer. She used the pseudonym Mel-Bonis. Born into a middle-class family, Bonis began piano lessons at an early age and made remarkable progress. A family friend, Professor Maury of the Paris Conservatoire, introduced her to César Franck in 1876. The following year she was admitted to the Conservatoire, where she studied harmony with Ernest Guiraud and the organ with Franck. She won second prize in harmony and accompaniment in 1879, and first prize in harmony a year later. Claude Debussy and Gabriel Pierné were also students during her years there.

Bonis married Albert Domange in 1883, and for about ten years devoted herself to raising a family. She began composing regularly in about 1894, writing more than 300 compositions, most of which were published. Among her works are 20 chamber pieces, 150 works for piano solo, 27 choral pieces, and organ music, songs and orchestral works. Her music was warmly praised by Camille Saint-Saëns, Célestin Joubert and Pierné. Already unwell, she suffered acutely the death in 1932 of her younger son; she died five years later. Her children assembled a memoir from her notebooks and published it as Souvenirs et réflexions (Paris, n.d.).

Sally Greenaway (b.1984) is a multi-award winning composer hailing from Canberra, Australia. She has earned herself the reputation of being a versatile and diverse musician, having worked as conductor/musical director, jazz and classical pianist, music lecturer/teacher and composer/arranger.
Greenaway’s music spans a wide assortment of styles and genres — from solo instrumental, chamber and orchestral works, to jazz big band works, as well as film, advertising and documentary soundtracks.

Her music has been performed by leading Australian and overseas ensembles, including the Melbourne and Canberra Symphony Orchestras, Brno Philharmonic, Budapest Symphony, BBC Scottish Symphony and Royal Scottish National orchestras; the US Navy Big Band, Seattle Women’s Jazz Orchestra and Jazzgroove Mothership Orchestra; chamber music ensembles Muses Trio, PLEXUS and Syzygy; and by numerous community groups and school music ensembles internationally.

Accolades include an APRA AMCOS / Australian Music Centre Art Music Award (2017), two Canberra Critics Circle Awards (2015, 2017), the Merlyn Myer Composing Women’s Award (2015) and the Canberra International Music Festival’s Young Composer Award (2009).

Greenaway has lectured at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and the Canberra Institute of Technology Music Industry Centre, and given guest lectures at Monash University, the Australian National University and the Royal College of Music in London.

She is regularly invited to give masterclasses and workshops and adjudicate competitions, including the Young Virtuoso Awards for the Fine Music Network. She was Musical Director for ConneXion Big Band for 10 years and is often invited as guest Musical Director for a range of ensembles including choirs, big bands and concert bands.

Greenaway is a post-graduate from the Royal College of Music, London, UK, where she received the Lucy Anne Jones award, studying composition and orchestration. She is also a graduate of the ANU School of Music Jazz Department specializing in jazz piano.

As a pianist Greenaway has toured and performed around Australia performing at festivals and special concerts. During her time living in London she played jazz piano at the London Chopin Festival on Steinway's unique 'Ferrari' grand piano, and at the Dorchester Hotel in Mayfair on Liberace's rhinestone grand piano.

In her spare time, she dabbles in historic keyboard instruments including the harpsichord and clavichord.