International Women’s Day: The female composers you need to know, according to women in music

Today’s International Women’s Day celebrations are music to our ears. To mark the moment, we asked brilliant women in music to choose a piece by a female composer that they think everyone should hear and why.

Danielle de Niese, soprano

Night by Florence Price and Piano Concerto in A minor op. 7 (II. Romanze. Andante non troppo) by Clara Schumann

Today, as the world slowly unpicks generations of patriarchy, it is history’s forgotten female composers that stand out as the trailblazers - women who were stifled by societies that were unable to accept the concept that a woman could be as talented as a man. But these remarkable women managed to flourish in spite of neglect, prejudice and even their own self-doubt. I simply could not pick one piece, so I’ve chosen two composers who featured in my film, Unsung Heroines, whose music lives with me. Florence Price grew up in America at a time when the nation was only just starting to move past segregation. Yet, she became a hugely successful composer, her works being performed at the Royal Albert Hall and even at the momentous Easter Demonstration at Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC sung by the legendary Marian Anderson. I performed her song Night at the BBC Proms in 2018.

Clara Schumann once wrote: “I once believed that I possessed creative talent, but I have given up this idea; a woman must not desire to compose — there has never yet been one able to do it. Should I expect to be the one?" One of the more modern ways of expressing Clara’s sentiment: you cannot be what you cannot see. She gave up on herself and spent 40 years ensuring the legacy of her husband, Robert Schumann. But what could Clara have accomplished if she had other female role models to look up to? I recommend her Piano Concerto in A minor op. 7 (II. Romanze. Andante non troppo).

Florence Price and Clara Schumann were up against a society that just wasn’t there for them - neither in education nor opportunity. Let’s honour these women for their daring and resilience and make sure to tell their stories to future generations.

Isata Kanneh-Mason, pianist

Chaconne in B Minor by Sofia Gubaidulina

Russian composer Sofia Gubaidulina was born in the then USSR in 1931 and studied with a pupil of Dmitri Shostakovich. Her music reminds me of his soundworld, and generally of that musical era, and it’s one I really love. She was very heavily influenced by JS Bach; you can tell this by the name of course, but also by the way she sets up the piece. There is a harmonic progression which she develops throughout, making it ever more complicated, which is a technique Bach uses; starting with a simple-ish chord sequence and then elaborating on it without losing the harmonic base. There is a Fugue in the middle which comes from nowhere and is very Bach-like in its construct. I also love the piece because it’s dramatic, rhythmic, exciting and almost electric in its energy. I find it thrilling to play and I love B minor! It’s a work which has both crazy explosive sections and then soft, singing ones, which makes her writing very mercurial and unafraid to be just that. I think she must be an amazing woman.

Joyce DiDonato, soprano

Leaves and Trees by Rachel Portman

Spring. Is. Coming. And I don’t believe there has ever been a more anticipated season in our lifetime. A chance to renew, regenerate, and hopefully move on awaits us! Rachel Portman’s evocative, rich, mystical take on what it is to float in the canopies of the new growth of a birch tree in springtime as the refracted light graces one’s being is just what our hearts need in 2021. Listen to her Leaves and Trees and let the glistening effect of the music bring you new hope and radiant light.

Hannah Peel, composer

Exploding Stars by Linda Buckley

I am captured by Linda Buckley’s latest album, From Ocean’s Floor - a masterpiece in connecting the past and future. The last track, Exploding Stars, written for and featuring violinist Darragh Morgan, is inspired by the phenomenal energy of a supernova. Taking us from the vision of the night sky to the star itself.

An Irish composer, Linda deserves to be heard; traversing classical music with electronic worlds and ancient folk, she crosses the edges of genres with such seamless grace it almost feels as if her musical output is at one with this strange, brutal and yet beautiful world we live in.

Hannah Peel and Sara Mohr-Pietsch present Night Tracks, on Radio 3 Monday, Tuesday and Wednesdays at 23.00. On Monday March 8, Sara Mohr-Pietsch presents Night music for International Women’s Day

Natalie Klouda, violinist and composer

String Quartet E flat Major 1834 by Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel

This work is powerful, heartfelt and beautiful. As with all great pieces one can hear the lineage of the writing and snippets of future master works. Fanny composed passionately and furiously even though any musical career for a woman of her standing at that time was impossible. Knowing that she was not writing for public glory intrigues me even more. I want to hear what was in her soul, and understand her passions, hear her tale. I wish I had come across her string quartet sooner as it is an important part of the story in the history of string quartet writing. We will be programming this work in the Highgate International Chamber Music Festival 2021 and we hope to do our small part in bringing this work into public view.

Natalya Romaniw, soprano

Au pied de mon lit by Lili Boulanger

My favourite piece by a female composer has to be Au pied de mon lit by Lili Boulanger. Set to the beautiful poetry of Francis Jammes, it speaks of the black virgin Lauretana who signifies redemption and recreation. The music by Boulanger captures both the love and the anxiety of the young soul who looks to the lady for absolution. My favourite part to sing is when we are transported by Boulanger to the deep, heavy, sacred thoughts of the young soul and from the music we hear, we clearly see the Virgin for the first time “Virgo Lauretana debout dans un fond d’or”.

Ella Jarman-Pinto, composer

Partita For 8 Voices by Caroline Shaw

This piece is one of the most beautiful and raw pieces of music I have ever heard. I find it really hard to describe what it is that draws me in. But to attempt: it’s the combination of using this primal sound of the voice linking us back to our ancestors; with exploring language, different techniques not often found in Euro-American classical singing, and underlaid by clear, uncomplicated harmony that eases us in and creates a foundation for challenging us with these different sounds and timbres. There are moments in the piece where I find myself whooping out loud with joy - it speaks so directly to my gut and brings such joy!

Ella Jarman-Pinto’s new International Women’s Day commission, Plango: A Cure Lament, will premiere on In Tune on Radio 3 on March 8 at 5pm with a text by the poet Jo Brandon, performed by soprano Nazan Fikret & pianist Rebecca Cohen

Errollyn Wallen, composer

A Tisket a Tasket by Ella Fitzgerald

For International Women’s Day I’d like to nominate Ella Fitzgerald singing A Tisket a Tasket, a nursery rhyme which she arranged. Not only is Ella Fitzgerald one of the greatest singers who has ever lived but in her improvisations and arrangements she represents the essence of a composer. The way she scats and flies through the air with her voice, guided only by an unerring ear, is like a symphony.

Tasmin Little OBE, violinist

Four World Seasons by Roxanna Panufnik

Roxanna Panufnik’s Four World Seasons is a vibrant set of pieces which encapsulate different cultures at different times of the year. Autumn in Albania opens with a rustic dance enjoyed at weddings which morphs into a soulful love song. We head East for Tibetan Winter, imagining a snowy scene atop a mountain, the violin weaving a free, lyrical line accompanied by delicate violin harmonics and a Tibetan singing bowl. Spring in Japan quirkily depicts birdsong and the joyous optimism of fresh beginnings; and Indian Summer dazzles our senses with pulsing rhythms, ending in a blaze of triumphant and glorious colour.

Anna Meredith, composer

Multivocal by Jessica Ekomane

I’m currently really into the work of Berlin-based sound artists and composer Jessica Ekomane. The two tracks in her album Multivocal are brain-boggling listens. Over the 25-minute tracks, tiny patterns synch up then gradually move apart creating new rhythms and harmonies. It forces you to listen gradually and patiently, feeling the discomfort of each tiny shift and rejoicing in moments of alignments. As someone with little (musical) self-control I envy the control and discipline behind it and find her sound such an enticing landscape.

Listen to Radio 3’s International Women’s Day celebrations at bbc.co.uk/sounds all day on March 8