This attractive compilation came out of Susan Tomes’ research for a book on female pianists across history. As she discovered, many wrote music as well, producing short works for the salons and domestic circles to which they were frequently restricted. Thanks to pioneering performers such as Tomes, some of the dozen women presented here are familiar names, but several will be new to many, as will their appealing compositions.

Take Marianne Martines, given lessons in lieu of rent by the family lodger, Haydn. Her miniature A major sonata possesses the sparkle of Scarlatti. Marianna von Auenbrugger died aged 23, but she was taught by Salieri, who paid for the publication of the Mozartian E-flat major sonata recorded here.

Music by Clara Schumann, Fanny Mendelssohn and Cécile Chaminade needs little introduction, but it’s well worth getting to know Polish virtuoso Maria Agata Szymanowska whose Caprice sur la Romance de Joconde was dedicated to her St Petersburg neighbour, John Field. Or Venezuelan pianist Teresa Carreño, who played for Abraham Lincoln and whose Un Bal en Rêve appears to channel Happy Birthday a quarter century before it was published. Raie Da Costa’s syncopated Razor Blades is pure Billy Mayerl.

None of this would be half so rewarding if it were not for Tomes’ poetic instincts. Her sensitive touch, combined with Hyperion’s natural sound, give this polite and appealing music ample room to make its case.

Listen on Apple Music (above) or Spotify