Montgeroult: Piano Sonata, 12 Etudes

Stern, Edna

ORC 100063

Imagine a composer, a woman, living during the classical times of late 18th century France. Her country is torn by a terrible revolution and grand revolutionary ideas. It is astonishing that France, who produced great composers throughout music history, failed to produce a great figure during the classical times. Or maybe it has and we don’t know about it. It is hard not to see the similarities between Chopin’s Revolutionary Etude and Montgéroult’s Etude No.107, or between the F minor Fugue and Mendelssohn’s Fugue Op.35/1. Hélène de Montgéroult wrote and published all her music between 1795 and 1812, either before or just around the time Chopin and Mendelssohn were born. It is fitting that the ideas of equality of the French Revolution coincided with the life of a great woman composer. It is fitting that her importance and influence in the history of music be recognized and the oversight corrected.

CD

Muzyka klasyczna

Orchid Classics

02-02-2017

5060189560639

American Record Guide: 'Critic’s Choice' (2018)