Violin Sonatas - Montgeroult, Viotti, etc review | Erica Jeal's classical album of the week

The Guardian 0

Rosa/Buckle
(Rubicon)
On an intriguing disc of finely-played sonatas, the first ever recording of 18th-century French composer Hélène de Montgeroult’s A minor Sonata is a highlight

When men wrote the accepted history of classical music, some important women were left out. In the case of Hélène de Montgeroult (1764-1836), whose Sonata in A minor Op 2 No 3 gets its first recording on this intriguing new disc from violinist Sophie Rosa and pianist Ian Buckle, the omission is especially shameless: elements in the piano music of Chopin and Schumann that have long been taken as evidence of those composers’ originality can be found in the studies that make up Montgeroult’s Complete Method for Teaching Fortepiano – a collection they probably encountered as students, written by a contemporary of their grandmothers.

It’s claimed Montgeroult escaped the French revolution's guillotine because she impressed the Committee for Public Safety with her piano performance of a set of improvised variations on the Marseillaise.