The Limelight Recording of the Month for April is an album of songs by the 20th-century English composer Madeleine Dring performed by Kitty Whately, a British mezzo-soprano who is making a real name for herself as a champion of forgotten women.

Born in 1923, Dring studied at the Royal College of Music. An unconventional career, however, including stints in theatre, pantomime and cabaret, was cut short by her unexpected death from an aneurysm at the age of 53.

Clive Paget caught up with Whately to find out more about the life and music of this fascinating and unfairly neglected composer.

When and how did you first come across Madeleine Dring?

It’s a funny story. My first teacher was always trying to get me to do Song of a Nightclub Proprietress, which is her most famous song and I absolutely detest it. Throughout college I would hear people doing it and think, “Oh God, I hate that song.” Well, a year or so ago, Julius Drake got in touch and said, “Look, I’ve got all these Madeleine Dring scores. Do you want to have a look at them with a view to us recording them?” And I thought, “Oh, I don’t think...