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