The Women Composers Challenge Week Two
Welcome to week two of our community-driven challenge on women composers! In week one, we heard some wonderful music by Laura Snowden, Annette Kruisbrink, Maria Linnemann, Elba Rodriguez Arenas, and Catharina Josepha Pratten. Let's keep it going into week two!
So, the goal is to choose a piece (or several pieces), and to work on it throughout the course of the challenge, posting videos or audio files of your progress along the way.
Or maybe you are a woman composer, and you would like to take this opportunity to share some of your work with the community.
The challenge will last for four weeks, ending on Saturday, May 3rd. A new discussion thread will be posted for each week of the challenge.
If you are looking for a place to start your search and pique your interest, Candice Mowbray has an excellent website on the subject. Here is a link.
If any beginners would like some suggestions for your playing level, feel free to ask the community by posting a message here.
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wow this is fantastic. I didn't know this going on, but I'm focusing on women's works -- curetnly performing Clarice Assad 4 Miniatures and Olga Vera Western Vista, plus a work by a boston composer. I'm so excited to find out about all these earlier women composers! Thank you to Candice Mowbray! such rich resources there!
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Dave McLellan Sounds wonderful! I hope we get to hear you play them.
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Dave McLellan Very cool, Dave. When you mentioned Assad's "Miniatures," I thought they might be nice short lower-level pieces I might work on. After listening to Connie Sheu's recording of them, I realized they are not, lol. What a great set, though. Congrats.
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Steve Price Hi Steve, yeah they are not simple. Quite challenging! I'm playing Blues, Lullaby, and Mi. Tide of Living Water will wait till next season. Connie's recording is fabulous. It has guided me a lot, though there are some funny differences in the score from her playing. Clarice has been really helpful to me also.
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I'm late to this challenge, but grateful for it as I'm discovering more wonderful music. In case it's not already been mentioned, Annette Kruisbrink has a short documentary available Women Composers for the Guitar, which must correspond to the published collections.
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Tamieca Thanks for bringing this interesting video to our collective attention, Tamieca! It certainly introduced me to a lot of very nice music that I'd not heard before. (I especially enjoyed the vocal works - in particular, Beatriz Lafont Murcia's beautiful performance of 'Ch'amor sia Nudo' by Francesca Caccini.)
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Tamieca Thank, Tamieca. I had seen this video and I love it!
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Tamieca And apologies for mis-spelling your name! (Now corrected.)
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David Krupka No worries, but thanks.
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Tamieca Thanks for the tip, Tamieca. I actually have that book, so it was really interesting to know more about it. While I was looking for it on Hoopla, I found another documentary called Women Composers by pianist Kyra Steckeweh that not guitar-specific but is very good. I'm working on some transcriptions of Mel Bonis, and she is one of the composers covered.
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Steve Price I just ordered the book, yesterday and look forward to digging into it. I imagine it'll be above my level, but that's never stopped me trying. Thanks for the lead on the Steckeweh documentary, I'll check that out.
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Pratten - Three Sketches (Apr 12)
These three pieces were published together and are dedicated to Pratten's friend and pupil, Dr. John Lindsay Leckie. They do sound good when played together, and I'd like to work them up to a performance level. I have played the first and last one before, but the middle one is new to me. They have some really upbeat names: Sadness, A Lost Love, and A Lament!
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Eric Phillips what happen to the gnomes?
But wow, I'm always amazed by your speed and ability to ingest new music. This is already sounding very good. -
Eric Phillips Fine start with this, Eric. You'll soon have enough of Pratten's music under your belt to program an entire concert! Did you happen to see her note in the score on how to avoid squeaking on the wound strings? I find it interesting that this was a concern in the 19th century - I don't recall any mention of it in any of the early method books I've looked at. Btw, I have you (and Ms. Pratten too, no doubt) to thank for an ear worm that's been plaguing me all week - I just can't seem to get those pretty little dancing fairies out of my mind!!
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Eric Phillips Wow, that's really impressive, Eric. I love how Pratten goes all-in with emotion. I've messed with a couple of her pieces, and that makes them really fun to play with.
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don The gnomes have given way to sadness and lamentation. Just kidding, I’ll keep working on Elvins Revels also. Is love to be able to play a whole set of Pratten from memory.
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David Krupka Thanks, David. I did notice that technical note on the score and found it interesting. My fingers kind of did what she instructed anyways. She really likes those chromatic ascending figures.
Sorry about the ear worm. Try listening to Dancing a Queen by Abba.
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Steve Price Thanks, Steve. I agree, her music is very emotive and fun to play.
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Eric Phillips wow, Nice playing Eric! So smooth already.
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Sofia Gubaidulina - Serenade
discover this piece thanks to this challenge. It is difficult to count even with a metronome and this piece has many pockets of pure tone and that if you are not careful, you find yourself pausing, enjoying the sound of your guitar and losing count again..:-)
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don Great start with this very interesting piece, Don! (I was aware of its existence but had never actually heard it before.) Looking at the score, I see what you mean by it being difficult to count. (But even if you did miscount, who would notice? Not me, that's for sure!) Thanks for introducing this work by a major 'modern' composer. (I don't know if you noticed, but she died last month at the age of 93.)
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don Very nice, Don, and very timely, as David said. It's a beautiful piece, and I know what you mean about getting immersed in it. A lot of waves of sound.
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don Totally new to me, both the composer and the piece. Great discovery, Don!
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don I didn’t know composer or piece. She has my attention now. Beautiful Don!
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David Krupka I just learn about her death too. Fortunately she left behind some really nice compositions. I'm just discovering her too.
Steve Price Eric Phillips Bart Versteeg Thanks! That's the beauty of challenges like these, we all get to discover new music.
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End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
