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This week Donald Macleod is joined by the award-winning author Leah Broad to explore the story of the British composer Dorothy Howell, who shot to fame aged 21 after the triumphant premiere of her orchestral work ‘Lamia’ at the Proms. By the mid-1920s she was regarded as one of the leading women composers of the day, performing in prestigious venues across the UK and regularly appearing on radio programmes in the earliest days of broadcasting. But she faced challenges from the 1930s onwards that left her disillusioned, and by the end of her life she wanted to destroy all but a handful of her works. Luckily family intervened, but even so Howell’s music almost disappeared from view - until recently.

In the first of this week’s programmes, Donald Macleod looks with Leah Broad at how Howell rose to fame with ‘Lamia’, an orchestral work that was premiered at the Proms in 1919 to a rapturous reception, and the experiences that shaped the piece.

Spindrift
Simon Callaghan, piano
Hiroaki Takenouchi, piano

Humoresque for Orchestra
Ö÷²¥´óÐã Concert Orchestra
Rebecca Miller, conductor

Sonata for violin and piano (Mvt 1)
Lorraine McAslan, violin
Sophia Rahman, piano

Two Frogs
Emily Gray, mezzo-soprano
Timothy Salter, piano

Five Studies for piano (Mvts 1, 2 and 3)
Sophia Rahman, piano

Boat Song for piano
Hiroaki Takenouchi, piano

Lamia
Ö÷²¥´óÐã Philharmonic
Rumon Gamba, conductor