A Room of Her Own – Neave Trio (Chandos 20238)
The Neave Trio follows up their highly-praised 2019 release, Her Voice, with A Room of Her Own which features works of Lili Boulanger, Cécile Chaminade, Germaine Tailleferre, and Dame Ethel Smyth. Two short works of Lili Boulanger open the disc, which may be better known in their full orchestral forms. Neave’s superb playing make the case that D’un matin de printemps and D’un soir triste deserve to be known in their chamber forms as well. Smyth’s early Trio clearly shows influence from her time spent in Germany, where she met Clara Schuman, Brahms, and others. Germaine Tailleferre’s Trio collected dust for almost sixty years after its composition until a commission gave her the opportunity to pull it off the shelf and rework the second movement and add a fourth – a testament to her consistent compositional voice throughout her career. This disc, released only last month, is part of the Neave Trio’s fruitful exploration of exceptional women composers and will certainly earn accolades in the coming months.