Our Recording of the Month for February is Volume Three in Chandos’ pioneering series exploring the music of Ruth Gipps (1921–1999).

Born in the seaside resort town of Bexhill-on-Sea, she was accepted by London’s Royal College of Music aged just 16 where she studied composition with Vaughan Williams and Gordon Jacob, as well as oboe with Leon Goossens.

Joining the City of Birmingham Orchestra, Gipps’ compositions were championed at first but moving to London after the war performance opportunities dried up. Thwarted, she withdrew into a world of education and amateur orchestras.

Clive Paget talks to conductor Rumon Gamba, the brains behind this pioneering project, to find out more.

How did you come to record music by Ruth Gipps?

It was one of those accidents where a project had fallen through, and we still had the recording dates. So, I started to dig around and found Victoria Rowe – one of Ruth Gipps’ family members – and she had all of the scores. Over the years we’ve been able to digitise them, but initially it was just my inquisitive sense. I had a feeling that there was some good stuff in there, and lo and behold, there was.