JENNIFER KING, PIANO

Souvenance nominated for two awards - Classical and Instrumental Release of the Year  at the East Coast Music Association Awards nominations on Wednesday, January 28, 2026. 

https://www.ecma.com/news/38th-east-coast-music-awards-gala-presented-by-rogers

Review of Souvenance in the Journal of International Alliance for Women in Music, Vol 31, No. 4, 2025

NANETTE KAPLAN SOLOMON

In her solo album, Souvenance, pianist Jennifer King presents a collection of nocturnes, romances, and meditations by women composers in what she calls “an introspective journey rich with heartbreak, hope, strength and tenderness.” Included are some familiar names from the Romantic period and early twentieth century such as Fanny Mendelssohn, Clara Wieck Schumann, Cécile Chaminade, and Ethel Smyth, as well as the more unfamiliar (to most) Mel Bonis, Sophie-Carmen Eckhardt-Gramatté, and Dana Suesse.   Ms. King closes the recording with her own meditation on folk icon Joni Mitchell’s “Blue.”Ms. King performs these lush character pieces with exquisite sensitivity to color and line, creating a virtual Viennese table for the ears! I have only recently become aware of the works of Mel Bonis (1858-1937), and every piece I have heard is a well-crafted gem. A classmate of Debussy and a student of César Franck at the Paris Conservatoire, her prolific output includes over 300 works. The two pieces that open the album—Méditation, op.31, and Romance sans Paroles, op. 56— have Fauré-like sonorities, filigree melodic ornamentation, and the linear clarity so typical of French music. Chaminade, one of the most published composers of her time (regardless of gender) is represented by three works: two Romances sans Paroles from op. 76,no. 1.“Souvenance” (hence the title of the album) and no. 6 “Méditation,” and Nocturne in B Major, op. 165. This latter (obviously a much later) work has a wistful melody with lots of pianistic filigree, and a dramatic, virtuosic middle section. The most well-known work on the album is probably Clara Schumann’s Notturno from Soireés Musicales, op. 6. Written around 1838, before her marriage to Robert, it has the pianistic texture typical of a Field piece in that genre. Ms. King navigates the florid ornamental passages with great delicacy. In contrast, Fanny Mendelssohn’s Notturno in G Minor, H-U 337, written around the same time after her trip to Italy in 1840, is far more agitated and passionate, with interesting chromatic transitions and a haunting coda. A rarely heard Nocturne: Kanon in Gegenbewegung (Canon in Contrary Motion) is Ethel Smyth’s contribution to the collection. Although famous (infamous) for her large-scale operatic works and suffragette activities, this miniature shows Smyth’s skillful mastery of smaller forms as well. Its tone is quite melancholy, with interesting major/minor harmonic transformations. Not surprisingly, given the Germanic influence on Smyth, the work has a Brahmsian feel to it.

The longest (at 7’22”) and most consequential work on the album is the unfamiliar (to me, anyway) Caprice II Nocturne “Gute Ruh,” E. 96 by Eckhardt-Grammatté (1899-1974). The composer was a Russian-born Canadian virtuoso violinist and pianist who wrote symphonies, concerti, and chamber and solo works. Written in 1936-7, it opens with Scriabin-like improvisational harmonies, and branches out to dramatic passages, extending the traditional Romantic nocturne form. I would be really interested in exploring more of this composer’s oeuvre. For me, the most exciting discovery on the album was Dana Suesse’s Jazz Nocturne. Suesse (1909-1987) was an American vaudevillian, pianist, composer of songs (music and lyrics), orchestral works, film scores, and piano works. She was nicknamed “the girl Gershwin,” and why is clearly evident in the selection here. It starts out with an impressionistic-sounding melody, with hints of jazz harmonies, and ragtime references, then slips into a true bluesy tune. I bought the score after my initial listen! Kudos to Ms. King for introducing me to this great piece, and for her rousing performance of it.

For years, the type of music represented by this album was often denigrated as “salon music,” deemed trivial and of lesser quality than large-scale works for the concert hall (and usually associated with “women’s work”). Indeed, in a review of Rachmaninoff’s Fourth Piano Concerto, calling the piece tawdry, weepily sentimental, and old-fashioned, a critic referred to it as “the kind of thing Mme. Chaminade might have perpetrated on her third glass of vodka” (the lowest of insults—comparing Rachmaninoff to a “lady composer”). From the quality not only of the selections she has chosen for this album, but the excellent performances she elicits from them, Ms. King proves the above critique wrong and obsolete. The fact that she recorded the album in her own living room gives the listener an intimate experience, showcasing the music the way it was meant to be heard. I urge you to join her on her journey.

My only minor quibble is that though very pretty, I wish the companion booklet was less of a “Hallmark card” compilation of short quotes and bios, and contained more substantial, informative material.

Souvenance: Jennifer King, Piano: co-produced by Jennifer King and John D.S. Adams, available through streaming services; more information at Jenniferkingpiano.com, youtube.com@jenniferkingpiano, instagram.com/jenniferkingpiano, jenniferkingpiano@gmail.com

Dr. Nanette Kaplan Solomon is Professor Emerita from Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania. She performs frequently as a soloist and chamber musician, and has been on the board of the IAWM, College Music Society Pennsylvania Music Teachers Association, and the Music Teachers National Association. Her four compact discs- Piano Music of Nikolai Lopatnikoff (Laurel), Character Sketches: Solo Piano Works by Seven American Women (Leonarda), Sunbursts: Solo Piano Works by Seven American Women (Leonarda), and Badinage: Piano Music of Mana-Zucca (Albany) have received critical acclaim.

https://iawm.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/iawm-journal-vol31-no4-2025.pdf

Review of Souvenance by Ron Schepper of Textura May 21, 2025

https://www.textura.org/archives/k/king_souvenance.htm

A solo piano collection of nocturnes, romances, and meditations by nineteenth and twentieth century female composers, Jennifer King's Souvenance deserves to be heard. The independently issued digital-only release by the British/Canadian classical pianist augments material by Mel Bonis, Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, Ethel Smyth, Clara Wieck-Schumann, Cécile Chaminade, and Sophie-Carmen Eckhardt-Gramatté with pieces of more recent vintage, Dana Suesse's “Jazz Nocturne” and Joni Mitchell's “Blue,” and the move's a smart one in showing the range and artistry of the Halifax-based King. As much as the romantic era is the foundation, Souvenance refreshingly extends into the present day too.

King isn't the first artist to champion the too-little-heard work composers such as Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel and Clara Wieck-Schumann produced, but in adding her recording to similarly themed ones by others, the pianist is doing her part to speak on behalf of figures affected by gender-based barriers. Consistent with the loneliness and longing those artists experienced, the tone of Souvenance is often tender and introspective; hope is present too but as something perhaps more aspirational. Adding to the personal character of the project, the album was recorded in King's living room.

Souvenance isn't, incidentally, her debut; in fact, King's previous release, 2022's O Mistress Moon: Canadian Edition, was judged 'Classical Album of the Year' at the East Coast Music Awards in 2023, and her earlier ones include Doolittle: Minute Études “Excerpts” (2019) and Twilight Hour: Collected Stories for Piano (2020). In a career spanning three decades, she's presented a number of commissions from Canadian composers and delivered hundreds of recitals at festival and concert stages throughout the country. King developed her technique through studies at McGill University, Acadia University, the University of Reading, and the Royal Academy of Music in London, England.

Thoughtfully sequenced, Souvenance intersperses groupings of pieces by French composers Bonis (1858-1937) and Chaminade (1857-1944) with single settings by English composer Smyth (1858-1944), Russian-born Canadian composer Eckhardt-Gramatté (1899-1974), and German pianists/composers Wieck-Schumann (1819-96) and Mendelssohn-Hensel (1805-47). Fittingly, the album advances into the twentieth-century in featuring treatments of pieces by Suesse (1909-87) and Mitchell (b. 1943).

Bonis's Méditation, Op.31 establishes a tone of lyrical serenity that carries over into other settings. King's sensitive touch and nuanced handling of tempo and pacing amplify the dream-like and cantabile qualities of the writing, and while the opener is brief, it's beguiling enough to draw the listener into the recording. Its soulful character remains in place for Bonis's equally lyrical Romance sans Paroles, Op.165, after which Wieck-Schumann's “Notturno in F major” from Soirées musicales, Op.6 No. 2 adds a lamenting poignancy to the recording. Again King's execution shows immense sensitivity in articulating the music's yearning. A number of haunting nocturnes appear on the album, from Smyth's Nocturne (Kanon in Gegenbewegung) and Mendelssohn-Hensel's Notturno in G minor, H-U 337 to Chaminade's Nocturne in B major, Op.165 and Eckhardt-Gramatté's Caprice II Nocturne “Gute Ruh”, E.96.

The album's titular work derives from Chaminade's 6 Romances sans Paroles, Op.76 and is, of course, alluringly romantic; as enticing and one of the set's prettiest pieces is Chaminade's Nocturne in B major, Op.165, whose elegantly flowing patterns are administered terrifically by King. Also from 6 Romances sans Paroles is “Méditation,” which benefits from a regal reading. Eckhardt-Gramatté's Caprice II Nocturne “Gute Ruh” casts a large shadow in stretching across seven explorative minutes.

An American composer as comfortable writing a popular song (see “Moon About Town,” “My Silent Love,” and “Blue Moonlight”) as a classical piece, Suesse (1909-87) studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris and saw her works presented at a Carnegie Hall symphony concert in 1974. She's represented here by “Jazz Nocturne” from 1932, an intoxicating late-night reverie that works blues shadings into the album and even faint hints of stride. In her arrangement of Mitchell's “Blue,” King's piano largely follows the singer's vocal line—a wise choice when Joni's phrasing is so central to the classic's identity.

While the album only features one piece by Smyth, King has expressed particular fondness for her music, that feeling reflected in the musical play the pianist co-wrote with mezzo-soprano Suzanne Campbell called The Bessie Carruthers Study Club in which King appears as the British composer and suffragist. Though Smyth might be a favourite of the pianist's, she's rendered every one of the album's eleven pieces with the utmost care and with a sincere desire to capture the voice of each composer.

Review of Souvenance by Kathleen Shimeta - Co-Founder & Chair of The Gena Branscombe Project

May 18, 2025

https://www.thegenabranscombeproject.com/

Nineteenth century French Impressionist painters created works of art depicting night.  Their use of darkly hued colors affects our senses.  Not to be outdone, French Impressionist composers took up the word “Nocturne” and began creating short works, that similar to the paintings, created the sense of night employing the colors a pianist infuses in their playing.  

Jennifer King’s newly released CD; “Souvenance” is a delectable presentation of Nocturnes, Romances and a Meditation composed by eight women.  Much like the Impressionist painters, King paints each composer’s interpretation of night with sensitive colors and attention to details of phrasing and dynamics.

Clara Schumann’s “Notturno” and Fanny Mendelssohn’s“Nocturne” explore the darker side of night which reflects their personal life.  Clara’s without doubt expresses the composer’s life as the stable caretaker of seven children and the primary wage earner in her marriage to Robert Schumann. Night may have been her time to process her worries, fears and compose new works.  Clara’s nocturnal troubles are portrayed with a haunting opening melody played by King with tender attention to the melody and eighth note bassline rocking that gives rise to a desire for hopefulness.  Mendelssohn’s struggle with the inequality brought upon women composers of her day is presented with a melancholy melody supported by minor chords and a rustling sixteenth note pattern that moves between the dreamy bass lines and into the upper reaches of the keyboard that sparkle with the excitement of the night and perhaps her joy of expression through composing.

French composers Mel Bonis and Cecile Chaminade ‘s Nocturnes, Romances and Meditation are a bounty of memorable, lilting melodies and even some humor.  Ms. King‘slyrical playing gives calming, unrushed voicing to the rustling bass lines while the melody floats above.  Her sensitivity to balanced dynamics from pianissimo to forte is subtle never over emphasizing changes yet they gently flow.  

Not only did British born composer Ethel Smyth push for a woman’s right to vote in England, she also pushed the boundaries of form in her Nocturne. Moscow born Sophie Eckhardt-Gramatté’s “Caprice II Nocturne – Gut Ruhe” stretches the feeling of nocturne beyond the romantic form.

King captures Smyth’s wonderment of night.  Dark moments lead into a sparkling atmosphere with delicate phrasing and voicing for the canon to be identified and heard.  With Echardt-Gramatté, Jennifer King performs the unrest with authority and understanding of how the composer expressed her experiences of night.  Both Nocturnes are wishes for a good rest.

A Joni Mitchell inspired tribute, taking her as a mentor to keep fighting through life’s trials and tribulations.  Holding Joni Mitchell in esteem, this “Blue” and the other seven  composers, whose lives were described in their music, have been brought to life in this heartfelt tribute “Souvenance.”

Interview with Ludwig van Toronto | Pianist Jennifer King talks about Curation and her upcoming album Souvenance.https://www.ludwig-van.com/toronto/2025/04/02/interview-pianist-jennifer-king-talks-curation-upcoming-album-souvenance/

Talking to Jennifer King about Souvenance her new piano album. https://barczablog.com/2025/03/26/talking-to-jennifer-king-about-souvenance-her-new-piano-album/