PREVIEW : Bay Area Piano Quintet Will Give Seldom-Heard Women Composers Their Due at CSUN

Nan Washburn didn’t mean to devote her life to the works of obscure women composers; she was just looking for some music to play.

“I’m a flutist by training,” said Washburn. “Since there isn’t much written for the flute, a lot of my time used to be spent in libraries searching for sheet music. That’s where I stumbled upon these wonderful pieces by composers I’ve never heard of. They just happened to be by women.”

Washburn went on to become assistant music director for the New England Women’s Symphony in Boston and is now artist director for the Bay Area Women’s Philharmonic, which specializes in performing rarely heard works composed by women.

A piano quintet from the Bay Area Women’s Philharmonic will perform Saturday at Cal State Northridge.

“A lot of people think there are political motives behind what we do,” Washburn says. “But we think of it more as a way to get good music played that would otherwise be forgotten.

“People assume that, if a work is good, it will be remembered. But that isn’t always the case. Many of these women were famous in their lifetime, but, after they died, no one promoted their works.

“Even now it’s hard for women composers,” Washburn said. “There has been progress, but there are still a lot of people who are baffled by the idea of a woman writing music.”

They wouldn’t be if they heard how good the music is. Washburn cites Hildegard, a 13th Century nun who was also an artist, poet and mystic (“she’s been called the Bach of the Medieval Age,” Washburn says), and of Lily Boulanger (sister of the more famous Nadia Boulanger, who was the composition teacher of famous composers like Aaron Copland and Phillip Glass) who died when she was just 25 years old.

“When we play Boulanger’s works, people say, ‘Oh that sounds just like Ravel,’ ” Washburn said. “But she dates before Ravel--she influenced Ravel.”

At Saturday’s performance, more contemporary music is featured. All of the works are from the early 20th Century. “A String Quartet” was written by Germaine Tailleserre, a member of the influential French composers’ group called Les Six. “A Suite for Piano and Strings” is by Ruth Crawford Seeger, who is just now--35 years after her death--being recognized. “She was on the forefront of the avant-garde in the 20s,” Washburn said.

“Two pieces for Viola and Cello” is by Rebecca Clark, an English composer and violist who performed with Pablo Casals. “A Quintet” is by Amy Cheney Beach. And piano solo works are by Florence Price, a black American composer who used black folk elements and had her works performed by the Chicago Symphony in 1932.

Althea Waites, who will appear Saturday, considers Price so important that she has recorded her complete piano works. Washburn is also interested in preservation; the soon-to-open National Women’s Composers Resource Center is the next big project for the Bay Area Women’s Philharmonic. But that doesn’t mean Washburn’s work is all academic.

“Our primary goal is the actual performance,” Washburn says. “Music shouldn’t be trapped in libraries; it deserves to be played.”