Secret Nights

?After the great success of their first Solo Musica CD "Hymne à la Beauté", Sonja and Astrid Leutwyler this time recorded further discoveries for the special instrumentation of voice, violin and piano. A great enrichment of the trio with pianist Benjamin Engeli is cellist Benjamin Nyffenegger. In this second album "Secret Nights", better-known works contrast with rarities inspired by the mysteries of the night and nature. Carl Reinecke, who influenced early Romanticism with his intimate forms of expression, is represented with a small cycle. With Camille Saint-Saëns' song "Le bonheur est chose légère", French Romanticism makes itself heard. The central element of this concept album are works by female composers of the 19th century. Anyone who wanted to make her way as a female composer in past centuries had a hard time. It was not uncommon for women to be forbidden to make music and compose. After all, if it was a question of practising a profession in this field, it was considered unseemly, especially in the upper classes, for a woman of her status to want to earn money. In this new album, three female composers are represented with several works. With one exception, their poems set to music are by women poets. Amy Marcy Beach was the first American woman to compose a symphony. She was also a highly talented autodidact who could sing 40 different melodies at the age of three and is represented here with several songs. Lili Boulanger is the younger sister of the world-famous music teacher Nadia Boulanger. In Lili's short life - she died at the age of 24 - she wrote a total of 50 compositions. Her sensitive Nocturne can also be heard on this CD "Secret Nights".