Who are the Sisters of the Moon? “If you look closely, and listen carefully, you’ll sense them as they dance in the sky ..” With these words, Susana Gómez Vázquez, the musical mind behind this latest Eudora Classics recording, unites female composers like the ‘Pleiades’, visible in the star-lit night sky, through shared love and common dancing taken from the surrealistic world of mythology. A brilliant idea. Critics, pointing at Fleetwood Mac’s iconic song with the same title, will say “We know, and it is not new”. How wrong they are.

For a start, despite the common name, the content differs sharply. Stevie Nicks’s lyrics are about ‘one of the darkest and most haunting songs’, whereas Susanna’s concept is one of ’positively connecting and inspirational symbolism’. Had a copy of the painting ‘Sisters of the Moon’ by Leonora Carrington been included in the accompanying booklet, it would have been clear that the answer to the question is indeed hidden in Susanna’s text above. One may also quarrel about numbers. Six dancers on the cover. The Pleiades are seven. The 7 children of Atlas and Pleione. And then there are eight composers plus Susanna’s own ‘Interludio’ on the programme. But it is not about numbers. It is about Sisters sharing love and dancing: Leonora’s Sisters of the Moon.

For this new release, the prominent Spanish pianist, Susana Gómez Vázquez, has collected a group of 'Sisters in Arms', selecting works for us to listen to and enjoy in all their exquisite splendour. And there is much to discover! Some from known & some from hardly or not at all so well-known composers. Not only does her recital fill an important gap in the catalogue, but it also shows her versatility. Like a chameleon, she adapts with apparent ease to styles ranging from her homeland via France and Germany across the Ocean to the Americas. Each with its own mood and purpose.

As is normal with Capita Selecta, like this one, not all are of the same quality or the same musical taste, if you like. That said, Susana has nonetheless built a convincing case. With a delicate approach, phenomenal technique and well-developed musical insight, she ably lifts the lesser ones at a respectable level. Although the two études of Hélène de Montgerouit were only meant for her pupils, in Ms Gómez Vázquez reading they come of age. No need, I suppose, to say how I liked Fanny Mendelssohn’s two Character Pieces. I’d loved to hear the rest of 'The Year', since there was, with a total disc time of 51:54, sufficient room for more.

Both Amy Beach, by now also a well-established name among female composers, and Nadia Boulanger, one of France's top talent as a composer and performer, are represented with some lovely pieces. All the rest in this recital, except for Florence Price’s ‘Fantasy Nègre’, which is new to me, is First Recording stuff. We must be grateful to Susana for bringing it so well-crafted to our attention. In her liner notes, details of the compositions are given, many of which you may not know. Do read them.

Perhaps to underscore the mythological element, Susana Gómez Vázquez added her own composition ‘Interludio’, an Ode to Kassia, one of, if not the first, female composers, literally ages before Hildegard von Bingen! Modern? Yes, but with lots of gripping atmosphere. After Montera’s Argentine ‘Rondo’, which you will surely appreciate, Susane ends in style with a slightly swinging Fantasy, showing herself to be an eminent advocate of a neglected Afro-American composer who deserves better at the European side of the pond.

In terms of sound, everything is, as usual with Gonzales, taken care of, including ‘immersive’. It is not my ‘thing’, as I don’t like to listen as though I am sitting inside the piano. But for those who like it, this may well be an additional incentive to add this release to your collection.

Blangy-le-Château, Normandy, France.

Copyright © 2024 Adrian Quanjer and HRAudio.net

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