Reflections Pt. 2 / Debussy: Canope

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.

The name of conductor Rudolf Kempe (1910-1976) is indissociable from those of composer Richard Strauss and the Dresden Staatskapelle orchestra. As Warner is now re-releasing the recordings made between 1970 and 1975, Qobuz is putting the spotlight on the Straussian legacy of a precise, often incisive conductor, who always paid the greatest attention to the text and its charms.

From fairy tales to wacky comedies, from the most extraordinary orchestral works to understated pieces, for almost forty years now Danny Elfman has been crafting his unique sound and injecting it into Hollywood productions by the likes of Tim Burton or Gus Van Sant. We look back over ten albums from his career, exploring both his essential works and less well-known compositions.