Pianist and musicologist Maria Stratigou is one of the leading scholars in 19th century music by women composers with a specific expertise in the piano works of Louise Farrenc. Her fifth volume of recordings dedicated to Farrenc collects fugues, melodies, and waltzes. Farrenc’s graceful Mélodie in A flat major was included in an 1846 anthology of works by an array …

This release from CPO marks two important anniversaries – the 150th anniversary of the death of French composer Louise Farrenc and the 75th birthday of Russian composer Elena Firsova. The USSR-born, UK-based composer’s piano quartet, now ten years old, is the centerpiece of this recording. For her piano quintet, Farrenc adopted the unusual scoring of her piano quintet from her …