Destinées

Destined to be musicians? The female composers to whom Baroque violinist Sophie de Bardonnèche pays tribute enjoyed very different fates: while the name Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre (1665-1729) continued to be remembered, who knows Mlle Duval (born around 1718), the second woman to have a work presented at the Paris Opéra and nicknamed 'la Légende' in her time? Her opera-ballet, Les Génies, remains a testament to her great mastery. Then there were Anne-Madeleine Guesdon de Presles and Élisabeth-Louise Pellecier, composers married to composers - the latter signed her works with the name of her husband, Papavoine... Others found it easier to achieve the limelight because they were aristocrats, like Mlle de Menetou (1679-1745). No fewer than ten female composers are brought back to life in this programme of sonatas, overtures and dances devised by Sophie de Bardonnèche, a founder member of Le Consort, who is accompanied on her first solo album by her partners Lucile Boulanger and Justin Taylor.