SUMMER DATES ADDED
Here is a complete listing of this summer’s performances, including the Ojai Festival, Caramoor, and Music Academy of the West.
Photos by Laurel Golio
THE BOOK OF SOUNDS PRESS ROUNDUP
Thrilled to be among The New York Times’ May Classical Music Album mentions. David Weininger writes:
“You can think of the German composer Hans Otte’s “The Book of Sounds” (1982) as a sort of postwar counterpart to Bach’s “The Well-Tempered Clavier.” Bach sought to survey the manifold possibilities of tonal harmony and counterpoint; Otte set out to explore composition as sonic space. What happens when you rebalance sound and silence? Or isolate one voice of the musical fabric? In 12 parts, “The Book of Sounds” explores this terrain with a language that sounds almost hopelessly consonant — a rejoinder, perhaps to the then-dominance of serialism. Minimalism is the most obvious influence in the music’s repeating patterns, but older composers like Debussy and Satie materialize in the music’s shimmering beauty.
But the piece is also meticulously structured, something that comes through in Conor Hanick’s superb new recording. It grows gradually more complex and dissonant as it progresses. Its midpoint — a wandering, chromatic line with no accompaniment — comes as a quiet shock. Hanick’s care with the score is audible on both the macro and micro levels. Above all, he reveals how much there is to discover in this seemingly simple art for a listener who, Otte wrote, “wants to be completely one with sounds.” (New York Times, May 7)
Other mentions include:
Limelight Magazine
WNYC: Weekly Music Roundup
Bandcamp: Best Contemporary Classical
PanM360 Critique
Hans Otte / Book of Sounds is out now. Take a listen however you listen and consider purchasing via bandcamp on the link over there. Infinite thanks to all the people who helped put this album together, happy listening.
Mu Pan, Garden of Earthly Delights (2019)
New recordings (3) coming soon.
First, I’m thrilled to announce the release on Il Pirata Records of Book of Sounds, Hans Otte’s majestic work for solo piano. You can Part 2 now (Atmos here), Part 11 later this month, and the whole album on March 6. Thank you to Richie Hawley, Ryan Streber, Silas Brown, Thomas May, Lydia Diemer, and Dom Cooper.
Two additional releases also in the mix: Sunder from cellist-composer extraordinaire Mariel Roberts Musa (available February 6 on New Focus), and From Ordinary Things with Seth Parker Woods and Julia Bullock (available March 27 on Platoon). Enjoy!
Marcos Balter’s Mojibake, the second movement of Three Enigmas for cello and piano. Premiered December 2025, 92NY.
SOME RECENT PRESS
Here are a few reviews of Eastman at the Barbican:
The Guardian
The Financial Times
The Times
And a lovely write-up of my recent recital at Merkin Hall at the Kaufman Center:
Pianist Conor Hanick’s solo recital Tuesday night for Merkin Hall’s “Piano Dialogues” series would make a terrific recording. This fine musician played a program entirely of contemporary American music, and the overall judgement, focus, and skill is something one would love to be able to hear again. - George Grella (New York Classical Review)
JULIUS EASTMAN: A POWER GREATER THAN at the Barbican Centre
Few snaps from October at the Barbican Centre in London. (credit: Andrew Paradise). The show showcased music of Julius Eastman, curated by Seth Parker Woods and featuring Barbican artist-in-residence Davoné Tines. I had the honor of presenting Eastman’s PIANO 2 and Gay Guerilla alongside an esteemed cast of colleagues.
OTHER MINDS REVIEW
“Samuel Adams’ Music Resonates at Other Minds Festival” by George Papajohn, San Francisco Classical Voice
The highlight of the evening at the Brava Theater was Hanick's performance of Adams's Études (2023). While contemporary music is often focused primarily on execution, Hanick brought a nuanced interpretation to this set. In the slow first étude, his tender expression emphasized the bittersweet beauty of the false relations (classical music's “blue notes”) that pepper its simpler diatonic chords. As the subsequent études grew increasingly dense and intricate, Hanick's sensitive touch gave a palpable clarity to the superimposed layers.
Adams was sure to point out in the panel discussion and program note that the Études are ordered to form a palindrome — the seventh and final étude is constructed to mirror the first, the second the penultimate, and so on. Yet Adams is not satisfied with bare recapitulation. The fourth and central étude of the set, the only movement with no twin, is built around a repeated note. It is reminiscent of Chopin's "Raindrop" Prelude, yet nearer in pace to the ticking of a clock. In the seventh étude, this repeated-note motive infects the chordal textures that dominated the first étude, this time off-key and recalcitrant. If the work, as Adams suggested, tries to "remember" itself, this final movement is just as concerned with the pain and distance of memory as it is with any sentimental recollection.
Thanks for the close listen! Looking forward to playing Sam’s newly overhauled Impromptus next month.
Conor Hanick, piano; Orchestra Iowa and conductor Tim Hankewich. Photo by Masen Shrader
2025-2026 SEASON ANNOUNCEMENT
New concerts, new works, new collaborations. Check out this season’s offers at the Concerts Page. Highlights include tours with Seth Parker Woods, Julia Bullock, and Sandbox Percussion; the premiere of Sam Adams’ newly revised Impromptus in New York and California; visits to the Barbican in London and a debut with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra in Manchester; music of Ives, Eastman, Bartok, Ten Holt, and a 50th Anniversary Performance of Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians with Ensemble New SRQ. Hope to see you.
Willem De Kooning