& Sandra Joy Friesen

‍Music by Violet Archer, Jean Coulthard, Ilse Fromm-Michaels, Henriëtte Bosmans and Varvara Gaigerova

The interbellum Twentieth century offers one of the most fascinating ecosystems of piano music, yet it is dominated by works by composers like Berg, Prokofiev, and Barber—established repertoire, heard every season.  This lecture-recital explores an“alternative” cross-section of repertoire – rarely-heard “outcast” works written by women between the two World Wars from different parts of the world –arguing that these are just as worthy contributions to a more equitable, inclusive piano literature.

Gaigerova’s incandescent Piano Sonata and Four Sketches are breathtaking, emotional testaments to an artist who is totally unknown (and whose bravery has also gone unrecognized and uncelebrated as one of those subversive individuals “re-habilitated” by the Soviet regime). Fromm-Michaels’s Piano Sonata is her masterpiece for the instrument, and arguably one of the greatest works of its kind to come out of Europe in the first half of the 20th century. It was written under duress in a time of war, and by someone who was later persecuted by the Social Democratic Party of Germany because of her Jewish husband. The musical aesthetic of her Six Preludes is a refined balance of classical phrase structures, masterful counterpoint, and enlightened use of 12-tone technique. As a Dutch-Jewish female composer during the Second World War, Henriëtte Bosmans experienced a brutal “unperson-ing” during her artistic activities then, and deserves much wider recognition now.

This year marks the 25^th anniversary of the deaths of Jean Coulthard and Violet Archer, and this lecture recital also celebrates their creative contributions to the musical culture of 20^th-century Canada as two of the country’s great composers. Jean Coulthard’s cycle of 13 Preludes spans her career, but many come from that ecosystem of WW1/WW2-era music and are fascinating, important works. The musical aesthetic of Violet Archer’s Six Preludes is a refined balance of classical phrase structures, masterful counterpoint, and enlightened use of 12-tone technique. In these expressive miniatures, the works of Archer and Coulthard reflect the spirit of the 1940s, and at the same time, capture something of the formidable Canadian landscape.

Prélude No. 1, Moderato assai (1917) | Henriëtte Bosmans (1895-1952)

Prelude No. 5, Dirge (1939) | Jean Coulthard (1908-2000)

Prélude No. 2, Lento assai (1917) | Henriëtte Bosmans

Prelude No. 8, Song (1939) | Jean Coulthard (1908-2000)

Four Sketches (1926) | Varvara Gaigerova (1903-1944)

  Andante sostenuto

  Agitato

  Lento

  Appassionato

Piano Sonata in E minor, Op. 1 (1925) | Varvara Gaigerova (1903-1944)

Nocturne (1926) | KatherineParker (1886-1971) 

Six Preludes (1947) | Violet Archer (1913-2000)

Allegretto – Scherzando

Andantino tranquillo

Lento – come elegia

Broad – in declamatory style

Slowly – in sad meditation

Allegro appassionato

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Pianist and scholar Asher Armstrong is on the Piano Faculty of the University of Toronto where he is a Lecturer of Piano and Chamber Music. Prior to this appointment he served as assistant professor of Piano at the University of Arkansas. Asher serves as an adjudicator and masterclass clinician at many festivals and competitions throughout North America, and internationally, and is also a proud member of the Royal Conservatory’s College of Examiners. He also maintains an active concert career and notable engagements include solo recital performances at the Krzysztof Penderecki Academy of Music in Kraków, the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, the Royal College of Music in London (UK), as well as numerous appearances as a solo recitalist at universities and venues throughout North America. As a performer and scholar, Asher’s principal focus is to advocate for women’s music, and his work has been published by Cambridge University Press’s Tempo, as well as in Clavier/Piano Magazine, American Music Teacher, the European Piano Teachers Association Piano Journal, Canadian Music Teacher, MTNA’s E-Journal, the Kaprálová Society Journal, and several others.

SandraJoy Friesen plays a broad range of repertoire from traditional to contemporary, to interpretation of pictorial scores and interdisciplinary collaboration. Promoting the music of Canadian composers since the early 90s, she was invited by the Association for Canadian Studies in Mexico and in Brazil to represent the University of Alberta and Canadian composers in solo piano recitals. Sandra Joy lives in Calgary, AB with her husband, visual artist Werner Friesen, and she teaches from her Sound Reflections Music Studio, https://www.sandrajoyfriesen.com.