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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.

The mid-1920s found Dorothy Howell appointed a Professor of Composition at the Royal Academy of Music, performing for radio broadcasts, and giving recitals in some of London’s most prestigious venues. Donald Macleod talks to Leah Broad about a period that saw Howell’s music programmed alongside Ethel Smyth’s and Rebecca Clarke’s: these three were seen as the most significant British female composers of the time.

Five Studies for Piano (Mvt 4)
Sophia Rahman, piano

The Tortoiseshell Cat, Pot Pourri, My White Lady
Emily Gray, mezzo soprano
Timothy Salter, piano

The Moorings
Lorraine McAslan, violin
Sophia Rahman, piano

If you will come to Corte
±«Óãtv Singers
Will Dawes, conductor

Rebecca Clarke: The Shy One
Anthony Rolfe Johnson, tenor
Graham Johnson, piano

Ethel Smyth: The Cliffs of Cornwall
Swedish Wind Ensemble
Cathrine Winnes, conductor

Piano Concerto in D minor
Danny Driver, piano
±«Óãtv Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Rebecca Miller, conductor