Carlo Benatti & Anna Caporaso: Portraits of Women: Music for Piano Four Hands
Da Vinci Classics

Portraits of Women is a rewarding collection of pieces by figures who've enriched the piano repertoire without always receiving proper recognition for doing so. Winningly performed by Carlo Benatti and Anna Caporaso, together under the Musikfest Piano Duo moniker since 2017, the release presents material by figures who are increasingly receiving their due, Cécile Chaminade, Germaine Tailleferre, Mel Bonis, and Amy Beach, alongside others also deserving of attention, Helen Hopekirk, Jane Savage, and Christine Donkin. Such a release goes a long way towards correcting the historical record by showing the value of the work many an overlooked female composer has produced. In presenting their material together, the recording also draws attention to aspects that set one apart from the others. While material by one might accentuate lyricism, for example, work by another might exude a romantic character or playfulness, clarity, or wit. It's the kind of collection where dances sit comfortably alongside nocturnes. Benatti and Caporaso bring distinguished credentials to the endeavour, both of them graduates of prestigious schools and concert performers with full schedules.

Certainly one thing that accounts for the differences between the composers is that these pieces for four-hand piano spans more than two centuries, and like any artist the milieu within which the composer created factored into the music she wrote. At opposite temporal poles are Savage (1752-1824) and Donkin (b. 1976), with Hopekirk (1856-1945), Chaminade (1857-1944), Bonis (1858-1937), Beach (1867-1944), and Tailleferre (1892-1983) in between. The composers differ in nationality too, with some from France, and others from England, Canada, Scotland, and the United States. Rather than sequencing the recording along temporal lines, Benatti and Caporaso arranged the programme with musical arc and impact in mind (it's obviously fitting that the set concludes with “Good Night” from Beach's Summer Dreams op. 47).

Les six member Tailleferre introduces the album with Suite burlesque, its six miniatures reflecting the clarity, playfulness, and finesse of her writing. Moods of contrasting kind appear, from melancholy (“Dolente”) and jubilation (“Pimpante”) to poetic charm (“Barcarole”) and sparkle (“Fringante”), and all of it executed with precision and empathy by the pianists. Up next, three settings from Chaminade's Six Pièces romantiques Op. 55 appear, written around 1890 and exemplifying her customary melodic allure. Whereas the waltz-inflected “Primavera” feels like a soothing breeze, the nimble march "La chaise à porteurs” dances lightly and the salon-styled “Sérénade d'automne” seduces with rhapsodic lilt.

From the Englishwoman Savage we get A Favorite Duett, published towards the end of the eighteenth century and structured in three movements—a contrapuntal “Maestoso” that calls Mozart to mind, a tender “Larghetto,” and a spirited “Rondo.” Every composer's story is different, of course, but Bonis's nevertheless seems representative of those on the release, the earlier figures at least. Born Mélanie but forced to adopt the masculine-sounding Mel, she studied with Franck and Guiraud at the Paris Conservatoire. While academic training and exposure to Paris's artistic milieu nurtured the development of her style, an arranged marriage brought her creative life to a standstill for many years. She resumed composing after her husband's death and gradually created more than three hundred works, including Los Gitanos, a lively piece that evokes Spain in its Andalusian colour and exuberance.

Canadian composer Donkin is represented by The Sea of Tranquility and Bay of Rainbows from From Riccioli's Moon (2011). Stillness permeates the dreamlike entrancement of Sea of Tranquility, while the more animated Bay of Rainbows resonates with iridescent brilliance. Of Scottish origin was Hopekirk, who's represented here by arrangements of material from 5 Scottish Folksongs, “Land o' the Leal” an expression of heartfelt poignancy and “Eilidh Bàn” a defiant folk-tinged ballad. As mentioned, Beach's 1901-published Summer Dreams concludes the album, with its six transporting parts constituting a strong closing statement. Her melodic gifts are well-accounted for, be it in the dance swoon of “Brownies” or evocations of chirping birds (“Robin Redbreast”) and insects (“Katy-dids”). Offsetting the mischievous “Elfin Tarantelle” are the romantic nocturnal portrait “Twilight” and gentle lullaby “Good Night.”

December 2025