Female

On this brilliantly programmed, inspiring album, violinist Lucie Bartholomäi shines a much-needed light on music for violin and piano by Farrenc, Beach, Clarke and Clara Schumann, female composers who achieved extraordinary things despite considerable social barriers. Louise Farrenc’s Beethovenian Sonata No. 2 and Clara Schumann’s melodically rich 3 Romances deserve firm places in the mainstream repertoire, but it’s Rebecca Clarke’s Shorter Pieces for Violin and Piano—dotted across this album—that are the real discoveries here. They are haunting miniatures that prove her to be one of classical music’s most individualistic and compelling post-Romantic voices. Amy Beach’s powerful, yearning “Romance” is a passionate note on which to finish.