A new label devoted to the distribution of the music of forgotten composers will be launched in September.
Founded by cellist Héloïse Luzzati, La Boîte à Pépites is launching its first album on September 30: a 3-CD set of the complete works of Charlotte Sohy. This will be followed in 2023 by a music CD by Rita Strohl, with many other women in the works, including British composers Liza Lehmann, Alice Mary Smith and Adela Maddison.
The label is part of the ‘Elles – Women Composers’ project – imagined by Luzzati – which began with the creation of the ‘Un Temps pour Elles’ Music Festival in France and was soon followed by the YouTube channel ‘La Boîte à Pépites’. . ‘ which now contains over 60 videos ranging from animated documentaries to a video advent calendar. The purpose behind it all, according to Luzzati, is “to unearth pieces that seemed worthy of a good place in the standard musical repertoire” – many of which were never recorded or have been lost over time.
Sohy’s music is the perfect example. Born in France in 1887, Sohy was encouraged in her artistic studies by her father. A pupil of the greatest musicians of her time, such as Louis Vierne or Vincent d’Indy, she was the friend of many brilliant female musicians, including Nadia Baker. In 1909, she married Marcel Labey, another composer, with whom she had seven children; her wealthy family allowed her to fulfill her vocation as a composer alongside her duties as a mother. She sometimes signs her compositions with the name of her grandfather, Charles Sohy, writing lyrical dramas, chamber music and symphonic music: almost none of her thirty-five works has ever been published. An anime Youtube video tells the story of his life.
“By having the tracks recorded by a plethora of different artists,” says Luzzati, “my hope is to shift the focus of the CDs from the players to the composer, and to help his works, little by little, find their place. “. place in the history of classical music.
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