In celebration of International Women's Day last March 8, the virtuosic duo of pianist Dina Duisen and violinist Deniz Sensoy performed Amy Beach's "Romance Op. 23" in a video by Classic FM.
Beach was a composer who paved the way for women's involvement in the American classical music canon and the industry that surrounds it, especially as she was the first American woman to have published a symphony.
Called "Gaelic Symphony," it was premiered in 1896 by the Boston Symphony Orchestra and is the first of many celebrated works Beach would work on, including a remarkable piano concerto, a host of choral works, and even a one-act opera.
That said, it was her "Romance OP. 23" that truly encapsulated her genius as a composer and musician, showing her mastery over the "intimate" style of chamber music made with smaller ensembles in mind.
(Photo : Library of Congress)
History of Amy Beach's 'Romance Op. 23'
"Romance" was written for Beach's contemporary and fellow classical music pioneer, the violinist Maud Powell, who was the first to perform mainstay violin concertos in the US featuring pieces by masters like Tchaikovsky, Sibelius, and Coleridge-Taylor.
At its core, the composition is made up of an ever-present but simplistic melody akin to a tender caress, before it slowly ramps up in emotion across six minutes of musical build-up and conversation between the featured instruments, ending with an elegant pianissimo.
The work itself is Beach's "masterclass" in lyrical composition and musical storytelling, the premiere of which was also performed by the composer at the piano beside Powell's violin.
In the inaugural performance, the concert-goers were so immersed in the tenderness of the piece that they asked for a full encore as soon as it ended, something the two 23-year-old virtuosos are trying to recreate in the recent Classic FM-featured performance.
Sensoy, the Turkey-born violinist, entered the world in the year 2000. Now, she is pursuing her education at London's prestigious Royal College of Music and has even received the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Scholarship there.
Joining her is the Kazak-British pianist Dina Duisen, in a performance that was captured at the Purcell Room of the Southbank Centre in London.
Watch the performance here and find more about Sensoy on Hennessey Brown Music's website. As for Dina, check out her recently released solo piano record " Mazurkas from Chopin to Adès" by clicking here.
