36. Crespo Series

Louise Farrenc is now seen as one of the Nineteenth Century’s most important women composers. Her Second Piano Quintet may not match The Trout in easy popularity, but it is far more inventive and a lot less repetitive. Rita Strohl was from the next generation and even more inventive with her magnificent Grande sonate dramatique that uses Racine’s Bérénice, a tale of love, power and betrayal, as a background to her unforgettable music.

Programme