DISCOGRAPHY

I and Silence: Women's Voices in American Song

Marta Fontanals-Simmons (mezzo-soprano)
Lana Bode (piano)
Delphian Records

BBC Music Magazine  ★★★★★

Classical Source ★★★★

Presto Classical Editor’s Choice

  • We are humbled to have had the privilege of curating, for our debut album, a programme of songs that explore mindfulness, personal transformation through adversity, and the journey to maintain a healthy mind and body in an increasingly busy, noisy and turbulent world.

    We would like to thank the following individuals and organisations for their advice and support: Delphian, The Viola Tunnard Trust, Snape Maltings, University of St Andrews, The Virginia Woolf & Music Project, The Nicholas Boas Charitable Trust, Roger Vignoles, Andrew West, Marilyn Rees, Roger Wright, Dr Emma Sutton & Dr Lucy Walker.

  • ‘Did I sing too loud?’ asked Emily Dickinson in 1861, in a poem set a century later by Aaron Copland.

    The expectations of silence often placed on women, historically and politically, and music’s power to break through them, are the themes of this deeply personal recital by mezzo-soprano Marta Fontanals-Simmons and pianist Lana Bode.

    Their programme reflects and channels the voices of female writers and musicians: Dickinson herself, Sara Teasdale and Virginia Woolf are among those whose words are set in the works brought together here, two of which – Dominick Argento’s From the Diary of Virginia Woolf and Peter Lieberson’s Rilke Songs – were written for great mezzo-sopranos of the recent past, Dame Janet Baker and Lorraine Hunt Lieberson.

  • ‘A remarkable exploration of “women’s voices in American song”’

    - PAUL DRIVER, THE SUNDAY TIMES
    18 August 2019

    ‘…recommendable to anyone interested in the landscape of American art song.’

    - DAVID PATRICK STEARNS, GRAMOPHONE
    September 2019

    ‘…impressive release….The plush tones of the singer allied to a searing musical intelligence perfectly match the unflinching honesty and seriousness of the verse…. Peter Lieberson’s complex Rilke Songs are sung with great authority and supported with due regard to weight and delicacy of the piano writing, both artists responding generously to the wandering melodic writing…. Fontanals-Simmons and Bode are fine advocates of this enigmatic repertoire.’

    - DAVID TRUSLOVE, CLASSICAL SOURCE
    August 2019

There are Things to be Said

The Tailleferre Ensemble promotes women in music, with a special interest in redressing the balance of works performed by male and female composers, and in performing new works. The Tailleferre Ensemble’s recording in December 2021 for release in early 2023 features Germaine Tailleferre’s previously unrecorded Sonate champêtre, Ingrid Stölzel’s There Are Things to Be Said (2009) and Jenni Brandon’s Metamorphosis (2018).

  • The Tailleferre Ensemble, founded in 2019 by Nicola Hands and Penelope Smith, is a UK-based chamber collective whose principal aim is to promote women in music. Praised for their "extensive palette of timbres", the group is a flexible chamber ensemble of varying line-up and size who perform works of varied instrumentation and genre, from works by established composers to those that are lesser-known and contemporary.

    There are Things to be Said is the Tailleferre Ensemble's first recording, exemplifying their work, featuring music from various historical periods and for different ensemble sizes. Of particular note are the première recordings of Sonate Champêtre by the group’s namesake Germaine Tailleferre and Little Duos by Rhian Samuel. Most of the album comprises works by living composers, but lesser-known pieces from further back, by Röntgen and Hoffmann, also feature. There are Things to be Said by Ingrid Stölzel inspired the album’s title, evoking concepts of loneliness and struggle but also reflects the hopefulness, determination and creativity of this new chamber collective.

dream.risk.sing: elevating women’s voices

Samantha Crawford (soprano)
Lana Bode (piano)

Delphian Records

Available on the Delphian Label from 29 September

  • dream.risk.sing is a recital programme which gives voice to women’s experiences which are rarely heard in song. The programme highlights five specific aspects of a woman’s life: growing up, love and lust, motherhood, career and legacy. The programme includes music by a diverse array of living composers including Helen Grime, Libby Larsen, Carson Cooman, Ricky Ian Gordon and Michele Brourman, alongside songs by names such as Clara Schumann, Rebecca Clarke, Florence Price and Alma Mahler, illustrating the historical legacy of women’s voices from centuries past in paving the way for gender equality today.

    Samantha and Lana’s recording of the full programme in summer 2022 for release on Delphian Records in 2023 will feature the first ever recordings of Charlotte Bray’s new song cycle Crossing Faultlines, Libby Larsen’s songs from The Birth Project and two new piano and voice arrangements of songs from Judith Weir’s woman.life.song.

  • “This [dream.risk.sing] is really a most interesting collection of material which so clearly demonstrates that normal song recitals barely touch on women’s own lived experience”

    JUDITH WEIR

    “woman.life.song…benefitted from Crawford’s easy communication of text, while Edge, a remembrance of first love to words by Toni Morrison, sounding haunting with Bode tracing its unrooted harmonies…the historic paucity of genuinely female-centred material [is] on the way to changing thanks to performers and composers such as these.”

    THE GUARDIAN

    “dream.risk.sing was ablaze with originality, fierce pride, strength and vulnerability – and humanity…The maturity and tenderness in their playing and singing cast light on the broad palette of moods and colours that this programme has to offer, and it was the symbiotic relationship between Crawford and Bode which brought each piece its magic.”

    DAILY INFO

    “The visceral imagery was shaped with lyrical intensity by Crawford, the vocal leaps weaving through Bode’s swirling, crystalline arpeggios.”

    OPERA TODAY

dream.risk.sing Trailer

World premiere of Crossing Faultlines by Charlotte Bray and Nicki Jackowska at Oxford Lieder Festival on 20 October 2021.

Meet the Composers

Charlotte Bray and Nicki Jackowska discuss composing the song cycle Crossing Faultlines.

Judith Weir discusses composing her song cycle woman.life.song.

Libby Larsen discusses composing her song cycle The Birth Project.

Helen Grime discusses composing her song cycle Bright Travellers.

Michele Brourman and Hillary Rollins discuss writing their song 'My Daughters'.