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Pursuing a musical career was no easy matter for women in the 19th century, but Louise Farrenc’s character and determination resulted in her becoming a respected part of the European scene, and the first ever female senior professor of piano at the Paris Conservatoire. Farrenc’s Second Symphony owes something to Mozartian models, with imaginative writing for winds and hints of Beethoven. The Third Symphony is notable for a richness of harmonic writing which, in its colour and lyricism, is reminiscent of Mendelssohn and Schumann. © Naxos

Christmas has always been a source of inspiration for musicians, and this harp album contains many Christmas pieces and famous melodies. Charles Bochsa (1789–1856) wrote much harp music, including his Fantasy on "Adeste fideles (dedicated to Clementi). Joseph Mazzinghi’s (1765–1844) Andante from Sonata, Op. 30 No. 3 consists of a series of variations on the, likely pre-existing, melody that almost a century later would become the famous song Deck the Halls. Charles Oberthür (1845–1924) was the first harp professor of the Royal Academy of Music in London. His piece Virgo Maria is based on the ancient Marian hymn O Sanctissima. Unlike other tracks, Edmund Schüecker's (1860–1911) Weihnachtslied is not inspired by any traditional Christmas melody. His other didactic compositions are well known and still used in conservatories, unlike his concert pieces. The same can be said of his pupil, Dutch composer Johannes Snoer (1868–1936). His Phantasia combines the two themes of the Christmas carols Stille Nacht and Es ist ein' Ros' entsprungen. In France, Alphonse Hasselmans (1845–1912) was the most important harp tutor at the Paris Conservatory, teaching Tournier, Renié, Grandjany and Salzedo. Rather than depicting a light-hearted holiday scene, Hasslemans’ Conte de Noël evokes Christmas ghost tales. In 1912, Marcel Tournier (1879–1951) succeeded Hasselmans at the Paris Conservatory. Tournier composed in an impressionistic style, and his two pieces here are from his four volumes of Images (inspired by Debussy). Les enfants expresses children’s joy watching the nativity scene, and Cloches evokes the sound of bells under the snow. Hasselmans’ first choice for his replacement was, however, not Tournier, but Henriette Renié (1875–1956), perhaps the most important female harp music composer. However, the Minister of Education refused Hasselmans, as there were no women teaching principal courses at the time, and because she was a Christian when the French government was advocating secularism. The melancholic Conte de Noël opens her collection of Six Pièces brèves. Marcel Grandjany (1891–1975), a pupil of Renié, composed many pieces that remain part of study and concert programs for the harp, and his version of Stille Nacht here contrasts with Snoer’s version. Marcel Samuel-Rousseau’s (1882-1955) Variations pastorales are inspired by an old French popular carol. Carlos Salzedo’s (1885-1961) compositions for harp were very innovative: he invented and described several of the effects that are still used in contemporary harp music. His Concert Variations are based on the song O Tannenbaum, created from a late medieval or Renaissance melody. Jingle Bells needs no introduction. Composed by James Pierpont (1822-1893) in 1850 (originally for Thanksgiving), it has become a distinctive Christmas song, arranged here by harpist Masumi Nagasawa. © Brilliant Classics

Was the golden age of the piano that of defeat for female composers ? If they occupied an important place in ancient and baroque music, the bourgeois society which emerges from the Enlightenment limits their access to the conservatory and to the quarry. Marie-Catherine Girod explores this key moment and reveals to us the talent of the resistance fighters of the classical and romantic periods, and of the first modernism, those whose history has retained the name, such as Fanny Mendelssohn or Clara Wieck-Schumann, or of whom she is rediscovery today, like Louise Farrenc, Mel Bonis, Héléne de Montgeroult, Amy Beach or Lili Boulanger. © Mirare