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donna voce

On August 2nd, 2024, the Music and Arts Record Label released a CD that features the fantastic playing of the renowned Ukranian-American pianist Anna Shelest. 

Called Donna Voce Volume 2, this CD features music written by Women composers, specifically music of Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, Melanie Bonis, and Olena Ilnytska. 

The Donna Voce project presented by Anna Shelest is an ongoing musical project that celebrates music written by women composers from the 18th to 21st century. 

The first volume of the series featured music by Amy Beach, Clara Schumann, Cecile Chaminade, Lili Boulanger, and others. 

For this second volume, Shelest tackles the charming, virtuosic, and beautiful piano cycle written by Fanny Mendelssohn called Das Jahr. (The Year) Consisting of 13 piano pieces, the work serves as a musical diary of a year, with each movement representing a month of the year, starting with January, and ending with a postlude. 

The other piano cycle on the disc consists of music of the French composer Melenie Bonis. Shelest wonderfully performs Bonis’ seven movement piano work Femmes de Légende; (Legendary Women) that was written over 20 years, beginning around 1890, and continuing until 1914. 

Rounding out the disc is a dramatic piano nocturne written by the Ukrainian composer Olena Ilnytska.

The exploration of piano literature is something Shelest is passionate about. Finding the musical gold at the end of the rainbow drives her and helps fuel her need for exploration. As she explains, “I realized that something I really like to do is take a score and without listening to any other interpretations...without having any other pre-conceived notions about it, try to make sense of it. This has been such a fun thing to explore. I was really surprised how much great music we really don’t know.” 

Shelest discovered Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel's Das Jahr around 2018. She took advantage of the pandemic lockdown to focus intensely on the cycle. “During the pandemic I had no concerts. I actually made a plan that every month I will learn and record a video of that month. When it all came together in December when we did the last video, I was like ‘wow it’s even better than I originally expected.” 

Das Jahr is a monumental cycle that is full of virtuosity. Due to attitudes at the time, Mendelsohn-Hensel was not strongly encouraged to compose larger works such as symphonies and larger chamber works, and because of this we very often associate her as a composer who wrote piano pieces for the private salon. Das Jahr clearly contradicts this assumption. As Shelest states, “Her music is very challenging. A piece of scale and such virtuosity... I think it was meant for the future of Fanny, or the Fanny that might have been living under different circumstances. It’s hard for me to imagine creating something of that scale...that she was just writing it for the family circle. I’m sure she was thinking ‘someday people will appreciate it.’ and I am glad that I came across this work.” 

The other piano cycle on Donna Voce Volume 2 is the French composer Melanie Bonis’ cycle Femmes de Légende. (Legendary Women) Written piecemeal over decades the cycle draws on seven heroines and women of note. 

  • Melisande,  
  • Desdemona,  
  • Ophelia,  
  • Viviane,  
  • Phoebe, 
  • Salome  
  • Omphale 

This is a fabulous set of piano pieces full of the beautiful colours and textures of impressionism. The music that Bonis composed very effectively depicts the qualities and characteristics of each one of the women. “In some of the movements it is so striking...the colours she is creating...for example Ophelia, you just hear the waters and the drowning. It's quite literal. You can enjoy each movement without knowing anything about the program element of this piece, because of the colours and atmosphere she creates. But I think if you know who the character is, it kind of gives you an additional level of understanding,” Shelest says. 

Rounding out the disc is Ukranian composer Olena Ilnytska’s first nocturne for the piano. This is a dramatic and expressive new composition for the piano. The name nocturne implies night, but the piece, instead of providing a soundtrack for the evening, it tries to depict the sounds and unsettled nature of the night in the forest. As Shelest says of the piece, “If you go into the woods and it’s quiet... what are you going to hear? You are not going to hear a melody, you are going to hear the cracking of the trees, and all the other noises in the forest. The piece tries to re-create these senses, these sounds that we might hear at night when things are quiet and mysterious.” 

This is a fabulous record that successfully puts a spotlight on these piano cycles of Mendelssohn-Hensel and Melanie Bonis. Had this music been written under different circumstances and with a more enlightened audience, there is no doubt that this music would be in standard piano literature. 

Presentation is everything, and Shelest performs this music with a perfect sense of romantic style for the Mendelssohn-Hensel and impressionist beauty and buoyancy for the Bonis. This is music that has been clearly thought about, and it shows in Shelest’s exquisite phrasing, touch and pianistic colours. Melodic lines are clear and full of wonderful characters that invite the listener into the musical gallery of Mendelssohn-Hensel's year. The seven women that are depicted in Bonis’ cycle are perfectly depicted by Shelest. She also has technique to burn, and it comes in handy while navigating the pitfalls found in both cycles. 

This is a benchmark recording that is sure to help establish these two cycles in their rightful place as popular piano recital literature. 

Well worth a listen!

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