Olga Pashchenko showcases Fanny Mendelssohn's cycle of 13 piano pieces describing the passage of a year, within a reimagining for period instrument orchestra by four contemporary composers: Roxanna Panufnik, Electra Perivolaris, Freya Waley-Cohen and Errollyn Wallen.
Fanny Mendelssohn’s description of Das Jahr as “a small work that is giving me much fun” reflects the challenges women composers had to get their work taken seriously in the 19th century. It is, after all, a substantial piece – each movement representing a month of the year – lasting 50 minutes in performance that could sit alongside pillars such as Schumann’s Davidsbündlertanzen. Even with the efforts to make the work of Fanny and other women composers more widely known, we’re still faced with one big obstacle: women simply weren’t allowed to write for orchestras.
