Women Composers & The Piano Susan Tomes

• Marianna Martines (1744 - 1812): Keyboard Sonata in A Major:
• 1 Martines: Keyboard Sonata in A Major: I. Allegro 02:16
• 2 Martines: Keyboard Sonata in A Major: II. Rondo. Adagio 03:21
• 3 Martines: Keyboard Sonata in A Major: III. Tempo di minuetto 01:53
• Marianna Auenbrugger (1759 - 1782): Keyboard Sonata in E-Flat Major:
• 4 Auenbrugger: Keyboard Sonata in E-Flat Major: I. Moderato 03:37
• 5 Auenbrugger: Keyboard Sonata in E-Flat Major: II. Largo 03:28
• 6 Auenbrugger: Keyboard Sonata in E-Flat Major: III. Rondo. Allegro 03:31
• Hélène de Montgeroult (1764 - 1836): Etude No. 106 in B Major:
• 7 de Montgeroult: Etude No. 106 in B Major 04:06
• Maria Szymanowska (1789 - 1831): Caprice sur la romance de Joconde:
• 8 Szymanowska: Caprice sur la romance de Joconde 06:47
• Fanny Mendelssohn (1805 - 1847): Abschied von Rom, H-U. 352:
• 9 Mendelssohn: Abschied von Rom, H-U. 352 03:58
• Clara Schumann (1819 - 1896): Soirées musicales, Op. 6:
• 10 Schumann: Soirées musicales, Op. 6: II. Notturno. Andante con moto 04:28
• 3 Romances , Op. 21:
• 11 Schumann: 3 Romances , Op. 21: No. 3, Agitato 04:29
• Sophie Menter (1846 - 1918): Romance, Op. 5:
• 12 Menter: Romance, Op. 5 03:23
• Teresa Carreño (1853 - 1917): Un bal en rêve, Op. 26:
• 13 Carreño: Un bal en rêve, Op. 26 06:36
• Adele aus der Ohe (1861 - 1937): 3 Piano Pieces, Op. 4:
• 14 Ohe: 3 Piano Pieces, Op. 4: No. 1, Melody in F Major 02:26
• Amy Beach (1867 - 1944): 4 Sketches, Op. 15:
• 15 Beach: 4 Sketches, Op. 15: No. 3, Dreaming 04:51
• Cécile Chaminade (1857 - 1944): Etudes de concert, Op. 35:
• 16 Chaminade: Etudes de concert, Op. 35: II. Automne 06:16
• Raie da Costa (1905 - 1934): Razor blades:
• 17 da Costa: Razor blades 02:33
• Total Runtime 01:07:59

Info for Women Composers & The Piano

“Throughout my training as a pianist, no teacher ever suggested that I learn a work by a woman composer.” With her Hyperion solo debut, pianist and author Susan Tomes makes a compelling case for redressing the historical neglect of women composers and pianists.

Spanning 250 years of piano history, the album brings familiar names—Schumann, Mendelssohn, Chaminade and Amy Beach—into dialogue with a wealth of discoveries. These include a sonata by Marianne Martínez, Haydn’s earliest piano pupil; a caprice by Polish virtuoso Maria Szymanowska; a romance by Sophie Menter, Liszt’s favourite pupil; and Teresa Carreño’s Un bal en rêve, which appears to anticipate the tune of Happy Birthday by some 30 years. The programme closes with music by Raie da Costa, one of the best-known light-music pianists of her day.

By choosing shorter works, Tomes gives space to as many overlooked voices as possible. Her sensitive, meticulously researched notes also bring the remarkable lives behind the music vividly into focus. The album complements her acclaimed book Women and the Piano (Yale University Press, 2024).

“Susan Tomes distils the essence of a piece of music into its purest form in the most profound and moving way.” — The Scotsman

Susan Tomes, piano

Susan Tomes
has won awards for her playing, for her recordings and for her writing. She grew up in Edinburgh and was the first woman to take a degree in music at King’s College, Cambridge, when co-education arrived at the college after 400 years. Her career encompasses solo, duo and chamber playing. She has performed in 29 countries (some of them many times) and has been at the heart of the internationally admired ensembles Domus, the Gaudier Ensemble, and the Florestan Trio, winners of a Royal Philharmonic Society Award. In 2013 she was awarded the Cobbett Medal for her services to chamber music.

She has served on many international competition juries and chaired the Piano Trio juries at the CIMCL International Chamber Music Competition in Lyon in 2018 and at the ARD International Competition in Munich in 2023.

She has made over fifty CDs, many of which have become benchmark recordings. Her recordings with Domus and with the Florestan Trio have won ten international awards and thirty-three ‘Best of the Month/Year/Decade’ designations from critics. In late summer 2026 her solo album of piano music by historical women composers will be released on Hyperion Records.

Susan is a writer as well as a pianist. For her these activities are intertwined. In both playing and writing she is fired by a wish to understand music, explore its context and convey its meaning to listeners and readers. Her lecture-recitals have given listeners new insight into the music she performs.

She has written five acclaimed books about performing: Beyond the Notes (2004), A Musician’s Alphabet (2006), Out of Silence (2010), Sleeping in Temples (2014) and Speaking the Piano (2018). Her books are studied on performance practice courses around the English-speaking world and have inspired several PhDs. Her appeal to a diverse readership was demonstrated by her appearances at the Edinburgh International Book Festivals in 2016, 2019 and 2024.

Her sixth book, The Piano: A History in 100 Pieces, (Yale University Press, 2021) was a Book of the Year in The Spectator and the Financial Times, a Scottish Book of 2021 in The Scotsman, and won a Presto Music Award. Her seventh book, Women and the Piano – a History in Fifty Lives (Yale, 2024) was one of the New Yorker’s ‘best books of 2024’; the Wall Street Journal described it as ‘delightfully provocative and consistently informative’ and the Financial Times made it one of their Best Summer Books of 2024. It won a Presto Music Award for a ‘Book of the Year’. To raise awareness of the women featured in the book, Susan has been giving recitals of piano music by female pianist-composers whose music has delighted audiences.

Susan’s eighth book, Nocturnes and the Fascination of Night Music, was published by Yale University Press in March 2026 and has received an enthusiastic welcome (see my Book Reviews page). To mark the publication of the book, Susan gave a solo recital of nocturnes and other night-related music in London’s Wigmore Hall on 17 April.

In 2023, Susan was one of fifty women chosen to be photographed for a special exhibition of portraits by award-winning photographer Jooney Woodward to mark 50 years of female undergraduates at King’s College, Cambridge. The portraits have now been permanently installed outside the Dining Hall in the College.

“A pianist who combines a rock-solid technique with a rare ability to communicate her deep understanding of the music she plays. With little fuss, Susan Tomes distils the essence of a piece of music into its purest form in the most profound and moving way.” – The Scotsman

“Tomes writes like a dream and with such elegance, her erudition worn so lightly and her ‘insider knowledge’ dispensed so generously, that even those with a minimal interest in the subject must want to share the journey with her.” – Gramophone

Booklet for Women Composers & The Piano