International Women’s Day falls on 8 March 2017, celebrating the ‘social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women’. Volume 70 in our Romantic Piano Concerto series champions three female composers, and three works whose in-the-face-of-it-all joie de vivre makes them irresistibly worthy of our attention.

The centrepiece of volume 70 in Hyperion’s Romantic Piano Concerto series is Amy Beach’s Piano Concerto in C sharp minor (1897-99), a welcome new recording of a work that has appeared on disc before but deserves far wider currency. Cast ambitiously in four movements, including an opening Allegro lasting over a quarter of an hour, it is a substantial piece, its technical challenges a tribute to Beach’s own considerable prowess as a pianist: her early performing ambitions were thwarted by a puritanical mother and subsequently by a conservative (and considerably older) husband. The music itself contains hints of this struggle, often pitting the soloist against the orchestra in competition, to powerful effect in the opening movement. There’s a particularly engaging perpetuum mobile Scherzo, with a wonderfully atmospheric opening, and the soloist’s figuration burbling along doggedly against the orchestral dance. The heady Romantic lyricism of the third-movement Largo eventually gives way to a sparklingly playful finale, with a triumphant close hinting that all will be well – as indeed it was for Beach the performer following the deaths of her mother and husband. It’s a happier husband-and-wife team that take on the roles of soloist and conductor respectively for this recording, with pianist Danny Driver rising magnificently to the imposing challenges of Beach’s cadenzas, and Rebecca Miller coaxing some lovely playing from the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra – one of Hyperion’s workhorses for the series, but here sounding far from routine.

The couplings are slighter works, but well worth investigating. Cécile Chaminade (1857-1944), ten years Beach’s senior, similarly had to battle against the prejudices of her day; her Concertstück of 1888 opens in a manner that immediately recalls Wagner’s Flying Dutchman overture, but gives way to music of considerable charm as well as Lisztian flourishes. Once again, Driver and Miller between them prove persuasive advocates, and this engaging 15-minute work certainly deserves more frequent outings. From a later generation, the name of Dorothy Howell (1898-1982) is barely known today, but almost a century ago her symphonic poem Lamia (1919) was championed by Sir Henry Wood and performed at no fewer than seven successive Proms seasons! Her 1923 Piano Concerto in D minor (1923), cast in a single movement but three recognisable sections, was judged less successful at the time, but like the Chaminade it has an arresting opening and some highly effective orchestral and solo writing, and it makes a fine companion piece to the other two works here. Recordings and presentation are well up to Hyperion’s customary standards, and the sponsorship of the Ambache Charitable Trust has done us all a service in supporting three works that fully deserve to be part of this series. Buy this disc for the Beach, and for Driver’s superbly clear-headed playing, but relish the bonuses of the Howell and Chaminade!