Out of the Shadow Lucia Swarts & Elena Malinova

• Clara Schumann (1819 – 1896): Drei Romanzen:
• 1Schumann: Drei Romanzen: I. Andante molto03:00
• 2Schumann: Drei Romanzen: II. Allegretto03:04
• 3Schumann: Drei Romanzen: III. Leidenschaftlich schnell03:46
• Mel Bonis (1858 – 1937): Sérénade Op. 46 No. 1:
• 4Bonis: Sérénade Op. 46 No. 1:03:59
• Lili Boulanger (1893 – 1918): D`un soir triste:
• 5Boulanger: D`un soir triste09:29
• Henriette Bosmans (1895 – 1952): Impressions:
• 6Bosmans: Impressions: I. Cortège05:04
• 7Bosmans: Impressions: II. Nuit Calme04:35
• 8Bosmans: Impressions: III. En Espagne04:02
• Fanny Mendelssohn (1805 – 1847): Fantasia in G Minor:
• 9Mendelssohn: Fantasia in G Minor:05:35
• Capriccio in A-Flat Major:
• 10Mendelssohn: Capriccio in A-Flat Major:06:51
• Total Runtime49:25

Info for Out of the Shadow

Lucia Swarts: Even as a young child, I was taught to be extra alert when women did not have the same opportunities as men.

Many women did not have the same opportunities as men to compose and publicly share their musical ideas and lead public lives as composers, with some having their freedom limited by ill health or because family or society had different plans for them.

Through the ages, female composers encountered considerable difficulties, often with fewer opportunities, support and education, even when they were members of the upper social classes. They were not in a position to enjoy worldwide fame, but several of them accomplished a great deal. Strong women, in other words.

I have chosen from the works of five special women for this album. Five women with eventful lives who deserve a podium because of their musical qualities. Two Germans – Fanny Mendelssohn and Clara Wieck – both trained in the classic Romantic school, and two French women, Melanie Bonis and Lili Boulanger; Melanie, also a classic Romantic composer in style and Lili, impressionist and exotic. Finally the Dutch composer Henriette Bosmans, whose parents influenced her in the German Romantic style but whose own interests wandered eagerly towards the French Impressionists in an ongoing quest for her own independent compositional method.

Lucia Swarts, cello
Elena Malinova, piano

Lucia Swarts
studied with Anner Bijlsma and Lidewij Scheifes at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, where she acquired her solo degree in 1985. In the same year she gave a debut recital in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw in the series New Vintage for talented young musicians.

Lucia Swarts specialized in chamber music, both on modern and on baroque cello. She is first cellist in the Baroque Orchestra of the Netherlands Bach Society and forms a duo with harpsichord player Siebe Henstra. She is a member of the Chromatic Quartet and Quartetto Amsterdam, and she frequently plays in ensembles for contemporary music, such as the Schönberg Ensemble and the Nieuw Ensemble.

In June 1996, at the Holland Festival, she was one of the solo players in the opera A King, riding by Klaas de Vries. She worked with baroque specialists like Gustave Leonhardt, Ton Koopman and René Jacobs, but also with specialists in modern music like Reinbert de Leeuw and Oliver Knussen, performing in many CD’s, radio and television recordings.

Lucia Swarts teaches at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague and at the Conservatory of Groningen. She also gives courses in The Netherlands and abroad, including the annual Festival of Ancient Music in Daroca (Spain).

Booklet for Out of the Shadow