Michael Drapkin: Classics Rescored for Chamber Orchestra

From Sappho of Mytilene to Kaija Saariaho and Clara Schumann, several women have managed to break through the macho codes of the milieu and become composers. While the classical music landscape has been largely dominated by men in recent centuries, the work of their female colleagues, whether pioneers or contemporaries, is just as fascinating. Here we put eleven undervalued figures of female composition in the spotlight.

A child prodigy in his native country, the Brazilian pianist who passed away in November 2021 kept his distance from the noisy fanfare of fame. His enormous hands and his natural and virtuoso technique always assisted his full, powerful and mellow sound. Here Qobuz looks back at the career of a musician that for a long time was the “best-kept secret in the world of the piano”.

With the release of his new album Exile, a reflection on exile with the Baltic Sea Orchestra, the iconoclast and prolific pioneer of the neo-classical movement confirms his status as one of the most ideologically committed artists out there. Melding classical and electronic music, physical and emotional worlds, he produces instrumental works of rare evocative power.