20th-21st Century Women Composers

[brogers70]

Does anybody have recommendations for music by 20th-21st century women composers for solo piano, preferably not beyond the technical level of, say, the Schubert Impromptus or the late Brahms Intermezzi. No problem if it's "crunchy," just not a killer technically. Pretty open ended I know, but I've not had much luck trying to find something on my own.

[liszt-and-the-galops]

Cécile Chaminade is one of my absolute favorites, and most of her pieces aren't too difficult. A few favorites: Op. 21 Sonata, 35 Concert Etudes (especially nos. 2 and 5; 6 is the same as the finale of the Sonata), Op. 37 no. 3 "Scarf Dance," Op. 60 "Les Sylvains," Op. 89 Theme and Variations, 132 Etude Romantique, Op. 152 Interlude, and Op. 165 Nocturne.
Side note: her Op. 40 Concertstück is one of my absolute favorite pieces of all time and my second favorite piano concerto (behind only Medtner Op. 60), though it obviously isn't for solo piano.
Edit: forgot her Op. 166 Berceuse Arabe.

Kaija Saariaho only wrote three pieces for solo piano and they're pretty difficult, but very high-quality. I recommend either her Prelude or Ballade; Arabesques et Adages is the hardest of the three.

Florence Price wrote a fair bit of stuff for solo piano, though the only ones that I can think of off the top of my head are her Sonata and the Fantaisie Negre.

Bethany Wakim has quite a lot of short pieces posted to her youtube channel, both by her and by other living composers. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdtun5WsmplZ46TERHQmF-Q

Tatiana Nikolayeva wrote a full set of 24 Etudes (Op. 13). Some of them are pretty nasty, but there's plenty that aren't too bad.

Mélanie Chasselon died in 1923 and undoubtedly composed pieces in the 20th Century, but because almost all information about her is lost the latest work I know of by her is her Intermezzo, written in 1899.

There's also the Boulanger sisters (Nadia and Lili), though I'm not particularly fond of their compositions.

I'll probably think of more later, but this is good enough for now.

Hope this helps! :)

[1972dd]

Grazyna Bacewicz (1909-1969)

[thorn]

Mel Bonis is always ignored next to Chaminade and the Boulanger sisters. Lots to explore but this set is my favourite because she brings a female perspective to women from myths/literature created by men

i=DWcAyMvaPfGhoHeK

My own favourite female composer is Karen Tanaka but her music is a bit modern for most. For some reason I can't share playlists here but look up Signe Bakke's album for a nice overview (Crystalline 1 and 2 are difficult works but the rest are at/below the level you're after)

[brogers70]

Cécile Chaminade is one of my absolute favorites, and most of her pieces aren't too difficult. A few favorites: Op. 21 Sonata, 35 Concert Etudes (especially nos. 2 and 5; 6 is the same as the finale of the Sonata), Op. 37 no. 3 "Scarf Dance," Op. 60 "Les Sylvains," Op. 89 Theme and Variations, 132 Etude Romantique, Op. 152 Interlude, and Op. 165 Nocturne.
Side note: her Op. 40 Concertstück is one of my absolute favorite pieces of all time and my second favorite piano concerto (behind only Medtner Op. 60), though it obviously isn't for solo piano.

Kaija Saariaho only wrote three pieces for solo piano and they're pretty difficult, but very high-quality. I recommend either her Prelude or Ballade; Arabesques et Adages is the hardest of the three.

Florence Price wrote a fair bit of stuff for solo piano, though the only ones that I can think of off the top of my head are her Sonata and the Fantaisie Negre.

Bethany Wakim has quite a lot of short pieces posted to her youtube channel, both by her and by other living composers. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdtun5WsmplZ46TERHQmF-Q

Tatiana Nikolayeva wrote a full set of 24 Etudes (Op. 13). Some of them are pretty nasty, but there's plenty that aren't too bad.

Mélanie Chasselon died in 1923 and undoubtedly composed pieces in the 20th Century, but because almost all information about her is lost the latest work I know of by her is her Intermezzo, written in 1899.

There's also the Boulanger sisters (Nadia and Lili), though I'm not particularly fond of their compositions.

I'll probably think of more later, but this is good enough for now.

Hope this helps! :)

Wow, thank you for all that. I'm starting my way through sampling them all. Very interesting.

[brogers70]

Grazyna Bacewicz (1909-1969)

Do you have any favorites? I liked her Sonatina - I would be a struggle for me to play though.

[brogers70]

Mel Bonis is always ignored next to Chaminade and the Boulanger sisters. Lots to explore but this set is my favourite because she brings a female perspective to women from myths/literature created by men

i=DWcAyMvaPfGhoHeK

My own favourite female composer is Karen Tanaka but her music is a bit modern for most. For some reason I can't share playlists here but look up Signe Bakke's album for a nice overview (Crystalline 1 and 2 are difficult works but the rest are at/below the level you're after)

Actually I liked Karen Tanaka quite a bit. I'd never heard of her before, but I think I'll try to track down the sheet music. Very nice. Thank you.

[liszt-and-the-galops]

My own favourite female composer is Karen Tanaka but her music is a bit modern for most. For some reason I can't share playlists here but look up Signe Bakke's album for a nice overview (Crystalline 1 and 2 are difficult works but the rest are at/below the level you're after)

You have to either link them normally or imbed them as individual videos.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_m6xFZ9Os66mTQJ8sJ38e-yHJanjXAe9UA

[thorn]

Actually I liked Karen Tanaka quite a bit. I'd never heard of her before, but I think I'll try to track down the sheet music. Very nice. Thank you.

Great to hear! My favourite is Crystalline II but it's pretty difficult (and the score is handwritten/A3 size). The Techno Etudes are fun, she's written a second set since that album:

i=vsFEZw8ekxiuk-Y2

You have to either link them normally or imbed them as individual videos.

Good to know for future reference!

[1972dd]

Do you have any favorites? I liked her Sonatina - I would be a struggle for me to play though.

I've only discovered her recently. I have a disc with Two sonatas and some etudes on it  (Ondine with Jablonski)). Its very good but not familiar enough yet with it

[berliszt]

Elena Kats-Chernin is a post-minimalist Australian composer who writes attractive, simple music. I find her orchestral work to be rather banal and uninteresting, and while some might feel that about her piano music too, I personally find her style works well for the solo piano medium.

Try a piece like Butterflying:

Or Vocalise:

I enjoy two CD's of her piano music, if you're interested: https://www.tamara-annacislowska.com/shop/butterflying-piano-music-by-elena-kats-chernin

and https://www.tamara-annacislowska.com/shop/unsent-love-letters-meditations-on-erik-satie

[liszt-and-the-galops]

composer who writes attractive, simple music.

Maybe it's just that I'm aroace, but how can a piece of music be "attractive?"

[berliszt]

Maybe it's just that I'm aroace, but how can a piece of music be "attractive?"

Uh, it's a common term in use as far as describing music that someone perceives to sound good. It is attractive to the aural senses.

The Cambridge dictionary's first definition of 'attractive' is literally 'very pleasing in appearance or sound'.

[liszt-and-the-galops]

Uh, it's a common term in use as far as describing music that someone perceives to sound good. It is attractive to the aural senses.

The Cambridge dictionary's first definition of 'attractive' is literally 'very pleasing in appearance or sound'.

Huh. I've never heard it used that way. I've heard people say that a voice is attractive, but never a piece of music itself.

The more you know, I guess.

To get the thread back on topic, I found out a few minutes ago that Alicia de Larrocha also composed a handful of pieces. To quote her daughter (who runs the channel linked below), "during her childhood and youth she composed around 40 little works to which she never gave any importance."