Description
How would you re-imagine Brahms? What does transformation sound like? Pianist Ann DuHamel posed these questions to five composers—the result is her debut album Rückblick, a wide-ranging anthology of new piano music. Edie Hill’s intimate title track borrows from early and late piano works of Brahms to create a nostalgic piece that looks forward and backward in time. The miniatures of Joseph Dangerfield and Luke Dahn’s “Letters”—musical postcards from one composer to the other—pay homage to Brahms’s relationships with Joseph Joachim and Clara Schumann. Jocelyn Hagen’s lyrical variations evoke the transformations of grief. And Marc Chan’s humor and wit is on full display in his inventive re-imaginings of Brahms waltzes.
Variations on a Theme by Brahms is, at its heart, a piece driven by transformation, and more specifically, the stages of grief. Brahms is known for his achingly bittersweet and romantic melodies, and this theme from the third movement of his third symphony exemplifies this perfectly.
Jocelyn
Tracks
1-4: Edie Hill: Rückblick:
I. A Look Ahead
II. Memento: After Clara’s “Gray Pearl”
III. Here, Now
V. A Backward Glan
5-12: Joseph Dangerfield and Luke Dahn: Letters:
The Mountains are Vast…
leggiero e ben marcato
Inter(rupted)mezzo
passacaglia
for Clara
Conjurings
ps:
piщ Adagio
13: Jocelyn Hagen:Variations on a Theme by Brahms
14-29: Marc Chan: Dr. Brahms’s Book of Rags:
No. 1. B major. With gusto
No. 2. E major. Gracefully
No. 3. G-sharp minor. Frenetic
No. 4. E minor. Unrushed
No. 5. E major. Tenderly
No. 6. D-flat major. Presto. Reckless. Boisterous.
No. 7. C-sharp minor. Allegretto
No. 8. B-flat major. Joyfully (don’t rush!)
No. 9. D minor. Con moto
No. 10. G major. Vivace
No. 11. B minor. Not too fast
No. 12. E major. Andantino
No. 13. B major. Rowdy
No. 14. G-sharp minor. Fantastically! As though playing despite a barroom brawl
No. 15. A-flat major. Andante
No. 16. C-sharp minor. Allegretto
30-31: Marc Chan: Playing Brahms:
I. Waltz in 4
II. A Left-Handed Waltz
