Nominated onto the Classeek Ambassador Programme by international superstar Sir András Schiff, pianist Julia Hamos brings a programme of works showcasing her boldness as an artist and the breadth of her technical capabilities. She begins with the fourth of Bach’s much-loved ‘French’Suites, a set of pieces initially compiled for Bach’s wife, possibly as a wedding present. These highly stylised Baroque dance movements are split into seven short movements, designed for home music-making for Bach and his students.

Hamos then cycles forward a few centuries to another set of dances, this time based on avariety of asymmetric rhythms common in Bulgarian folk music. Bartók wrote six books of Mikrokosmos, bringing together 153 pieces of music predominantly designed as teaching materials. These Six Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm are taken from the final book, which hasenjoyed a life beyond the practice room in the concert hall, thanks to its joyful, drivingenergy, playful motifs and grand flourishes. It’s not only the complex rhythms that makethese pieces difficult for the performer – it’s also the use of ‘biomodalism’, a widelyembraced technique at the time, in which two keys are used at the same time to create anunusual tonality.

Hamos brings us finally to another set of piano pieces inspired by a composer’s great love. Like Bach’s French Suites, Schumann penned Davidsbündlertänze in tribute to ClaraWeick, with whom he was deeply in love at the time of writing. The set of 18 piano pieces for the piano are based on a mazurka by Clara, and the work in its entirety is a very personal tribute to her, containing, as Schumann later put it, ‘many wedding thoughts’. Davidsbündlertänze is full of vibrant characterisations and is named after the composer’s music society. The Davidbündler was a partly real, partly imaginary group of artists created by Schumann in his writings – a group organised to discuss and defend the cause of contemporary music. The two predominant members, Florestan and Eusebius, appear in much of Schumann’s work at this time but are explicitly portrayed in the Davidsbündlertänze. This selection ofintimate character pieces are shown to be musical dialogues between these two figures– symbolising the extroverted and introverted sides of Schumann’s personality respectively.

Programme notes by Freya Parr