Composers: Ethel Smyth
Compositions: Mass in D, Overture to The Wreckers
Performers: BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus/Sakari Oramo
Catalogue Number: Chandos CHSA5240 (SACD)

A Dame, a suffragette, a one-time prisoner, a sportswoman, a writer and a composer – Ethel Smyth really was one of a kind. In addition to all these descriptors of her rich and colourful life, one must also remember that in personal relationships she preferred (though not exclusively) women. For a woman born in the mid-Victorian era, she was remarkably candid on this point. “I wonder why it is so much easier for me to love my own sex more...