Henriëtte Bosmans: Cello Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 & Poème

Henriëtte Bosmans is considered one of the most important Dutch composers of the first half of the 20th century. As a pianist and composer, she was affiliated with various chamber music ensembles in Amsterdam, with among others the violinists Louis Zimmerman and Francis Koene and the cellist Marix Loevensohn. World War II puts her career on hold. Henriëtte Bosmans refuses to become a member of the Nazi’s Chamber of Culture and can perform only secretly. During the war, she develops a friendship with the reciter Charlotte Köhler. After a lengthy period in which Bosmans regularly performs but does not compose, because of the premature death of Francis Koene in 1935 and the war, she writes the 'Doodenmarsch' [Death March, 1945], on text by Clara Eggink.

DMV 076 Henriëtte Bosmans, Louise Farrenc & Rebecca Clarke Works for Cello and Piano by Women Composers Arielle Vernède & Iris van Eck  

Dr. Jürgen Schaarwächter made a great review on the CD by label CPO for Klassik.com Cellist Raphael Wallfisch, always on the lookout for undeservedly forgotten repertoire, offers us three chamber music works by Dutch composer Henriëtte Bosmans. The works were composed within a few years from 1919 onwards.

Education Michael has a degree in English Literature from the State University of New York. Despite having no formal music education, he has an active international career in several aspects of the music business.

"Creativity is an unconscious act of insanity, in a burst of which the truth is born. No matter how beautiful or disgusting it may seem to people far from madness, its value is beyond doubt, both for the author and for those able to sense its invisible beauty. After all, gratitude for endless trials and suffering brings joy and blissful emptiness… Being shocked by music is about pain turning into beauty and getting under your skin, taking away your breath; about everything stopping to move. I want to be scratched inside by sound and experience the fleeting, invisible beauty." - Maxim Shalygin

Celia Swart (1994, NL) is a new music composer, saxophone player and visual artist. Growing up playing saxophone and piano, she found her love for composing.