Rückblick: New Piano Music Inspired by Brahms Ann DuHamel

• Edie Hill (b. 1962): Rückblick:
• 1 Rückblick: I. A Look Ahead 02:22
• 2 Rückblick: II. Memento (After Clara’s “Gray Pearl”) 02:51
• 3 Rückblick: III. Here, Now 02:04
• 4 Rückblick: IV. A Backward Glance 05:14
• Joseph Dangerfield (b. 1977):
• 5 Letters: I. The Mountains Are Vast... 01:36
• Luke Dahn (b. 1976):
• 6 Letters: II. Leggiero e ben marcato 02:23
• Joseph Dangerfield:
• 7 Letters: III. Inter(rupted)mezzo 01:10
• Luke Dahn:
• 8 Letters: IV. Passacaglia 03:09
• Joseph Dangerfield: Letters:
• 9 Letters: V. For Clara 03:34
• 10 Letters: VI. Conjurings 02:09
• 11 Letters: VII. P.S. 00:18
• Luke Dahn:
• 12 Letters: VIII. Più adagio 02:48
• Jocelyn Hagen:
• 13 Variations on a Theme by Brahms 08:10
• Marc Chan (b. 1975): Dr. Brahms’s Book of Rags:
• 14 Dr. Brahms’s Book of Rags: No. 1 in B Major. With gusto 01:49
• 15 Dr. Brahms’s Book of Rags: No. 2 in E Major. Gracefully 02:02
• 16 Dr. Brahms’s Book of Rags: No. 3 in G-Sharp Minor. Frenetic 00:54
• 17 Dr. Brahms’s Book of Rags: No. 4 in E Minor. Unrushed 03:25
• 18 Dr. Brahms’s Book of Rags: No. 5 in E Major. Tenderly 01:49
• 19 Dr. Brahms’s Book of Rags: No. 6 in D-Flat Major. Presto. Reckless. Boisterous 01:22
• 20 Dr. Brahms’s Book of Rags: No. 7 in C-Sharp Minor. Allegretto 02:42
• 21 Dr. Brahms’s Book of Rags: No. 8 in B-Flat Major. Joyfully (Don’t Rush!) 02:39
• 22 Dr. Brahms’s Book of Rags: No. 9 in D Minor. Con moto 01:57
• 23 Dr. Brahms’s Book of Rags: No. 10 in G Major. Vivace 02:37
• 24 Dr. Brahms’s Book of Rags: No. 11 in B Minor. Not Too Fast 02:11
• 25 Dr. Brahms’s Book of Rags: No. 12, in E Major. Andantino 02:56
• 26 Dr. Brahms’s Book of Rags: No. 13 in B Major. Rowdy 01:28
• 27 Dr. Brahms’s Book of Rags: No. 14 in G-Sharp Minor. Fantastically! As Though Playing Despite a Barroom Brawl 02:42
• 28 Dr. Brahms’s Book of Rags: No. 15 in A-Flat Major. Andante 03:00
• 29 Dr. Brahms’s Book of Rags: No. 16 in C-Sharp Minor. Allegretto 02:01
• Playing Brahms:
• 30 Playing Brahms: I. Waltz in 4 01:51
• 31 Playing Brahms: II. A Left-Handed Waltz 04:41
• Total Runtime 01:19:54

Info for Rückblick: New Piano Music Inspired by Brahms

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. Pianist Ann DuHamel’s performances have been praised as poetic and “... a delight for the ears and the soul” (Encuentro Universitario Internacional de Saxofón, Mexico City). She’s performed in sixteen countries, including concerts at Sala Verdi in Milan, Italy; the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland; and Trinity College in Oxford, England. A champion of contemporary works, she has commissioned works by Tyler Kline and J. David Moore in addition to the composers featured on this album. In demand as a collaborative pianist, Ann has performed chamber music with members of both the Grammy Award-winning Minnesota Orchestra and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, as well as with Martha Councell-Vargas, flute; Preston Duncan, saxophone; and Clara Osowski, mezzo-soprano.

Ann DuHamel, piano

Ann DuHamel
Praised for the “…grace and sensitivity” of her playing and described as “… a delight for the ears and the soul,” pianist Ann DuHamel serves as Head of Keyboard Studies at the University of Minnesota, Morris. An ardent proponent of modern music, she enjoys working with and commissioning contemporary composers, and this past season she premiered works of Marc Chan (CT), Luke Dahn (UT), Joseph Dangerfield (WV), Edie Hill (MN), Linda Kachelmeier (MN), Tyler Kline (FL/KY), and most recently, Jocelyn Hagen (MN). The 2019 season brings a solo program of music inspired by Brahms, with recitals in Malaysia, Thailand, Italy, Serbia, Belgium, England, and across the United States, as well as Saint-Saëns Carnival of the Animals with the UMM chamber orchestra and a return engagement of the Grieg piano concerto with the Central Lakes Symphony Orchestra.

A versatile artist and scholar, Ann’s recent performances and presentations span a variety of eras, from the Bach D minor keyboard concerto and Leopold Koželuch piano sonatas to the Brahms Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Händel and the Bartók sonata for two pianos and percussion. She has coached with Libby Larsen and Lowell Liebermann, on whose 11 Nocturnes for piano she wrote her doctoral dissertation. Past musical collaborators include members of the Grammy Award-winning Minnesota Orchestra and St Paul Chamber Orchestra, as well as Maria Jette, soprano; Clara Osowski, mezzo-soprano; Stephen Swanson, baritone; Seta Baltayan, cello; Preston Duncan, saxophone; Art Haecker, trombone; Gro Sandvik, flute; and Martha Councell, flute. Her participation in several summer festivals, such as PianoSummer at New Paltz and Piano Texas, has resulted in studies with Vladimir Feltsman, Yoheved Kaplinsky, Martin Katz, Alexander Korsantia, and Nelita True, among others. Past performances include venues in sixteen countries and over twenty-five states, with two appearances in Carnegie Weill Recital Hall.

Passionate about piano pedagogy and enthused to share this love, Ann is honored to begin her term as President of the Minnesota Music Teachers Association in July 2019. Her students have received such awards as 1st place in the MMTA composition contest and 2nd place in the MMTA Collegiate Young Artist competition. Ann frequently adjudicates for both the solo piano and chamber music portions of the international Enkor competition; she has also served on the jury for the prestigious Schubert Club scholarship competition, the Minneapolis Music Teachers Forum Mozart Piano Concerto Competition, and the Steinway Junior Piano Competition.

Ann earned a DMA from the University of Iowa under the tutelage of Ksenia Nosikova. Prior to her doctoral studies, she was Assistant Director to Paul Wirth at the Central MN Music School (now the Wirth Center for the Performing Arts) in St Cloud, Minnesota.

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