Variations Clare Hammond

• Karol Szymanowski (1882 - 1937): Variations on a Polish Folk Theme, Op. 10:
• 1 Szymanowski: Variations on a Polish Folk Theme, Op. 10: Andante doloroso rubato - Tema. Andantino semplice 01:47
• 2 Szymanowski: Variations on a Polish Folk Theme, Op. 10: Vars. 1-5 04:27
• 3 Szymanowski: Variations on a Polish Folk Theme, Op. 10: Vars. 6-7 02:12
• 4 Szymanowski: Variations on a Polish Folk Theme, Op. 10: Vars. 8-9 03:24
• 5 Szymanowski: Variations on a Polish Folk Theme, Op. 10: Var. 10, Finale 07:10
• Helmut Lachenmann (b. 1935):
• 6 Lachenmann: 5 Variations on a Theme of Franz Schubert 07:02
• Harrison Birtwistle (b. 1934):
• 7 Birtwistle: Variations from the Golden Mountain 09:19
• John Adams (b. 1947):
• 8 Adams: I Still Play 05:15
• Aaron Copland (1900 - 1990):
• 9 Copland: Piano Variations 12:06
• Paul Hindemith (1895 - 1963):
• 10 Hindemith: Variations 07:56
• Sofia Gubaidulina (b. 1931):
• 11 Gubaidulina: Chaconne 09:06
• Total Runtime 01:09:44

Info for Variations

For her fifth release on BIS Clare Hammond has constructed an adventurous programme of twentieth and twenty-first-century variations for piano. From the imposing Chaconne by Sofia Gubaidulina, to the tender grief of Paul Hindemith’s variations or Aaron Copland’s bold and uncompromising proclamation, the album presents a fresh perspective on the genre. Hammond opens with Karol Szymanowski’s Variations on a Polish Theme from 1904, a virtuosic and intensely Romantic outpouring that contrasts strikingly with the wit and irreverence of Helmut Lachenmann’s set on a theme by Schubert. The most recent works in the programme are Harrison Birtwistle’s mercurial elegy and its polar opposite I Still Play, a lyrical waltz composed in 2017 by John Adams.

Described as ‘a star interpreter of contemporary music’ (The Observer), Clare Hammond has developed a reputation for imaginative concert programming. As she herself admits in her liner notes, variation form may on the surface appear to be both limiting and limited, but the works she presents here transcend the form in myriad creative, and at times daring, ways.

Clare Hammond, piano

Clare Hammond
Acclaimed as a pianist of “amazing power and panache” (The Telegraph), Clare Hammond is recognised for the virtuosity and authority of her performances and has developed a “reputation for brilliantly imaginative concert programmes” (BBC Music Magazine, ‘Rising Star’). She recently won the Royal Philharmonic Society's 'Young Artist Award', in recognition of outstanding achievements in 2015. Over the past year Clare has performed at the Barbican Hall, where The Guardian described her as a "dazzling athlete", gave 5 broadcasts for BBC Radio 3 and has recorded discs for Sony, BIS and Signum. In 2014, she gave debut performances at 7 festivals across Europe, including the ‘Chopin and his Europe Festival’ in Warsaw.

Highlights in 2016 include her Royal Festival Hall debut with the Philharmonia, and a concerto tour of Poland, to include a newly discovered work by Josef Myslivecek, a mentor of Mozart. Hammond releases her third disc for BIS Records, Horae (pro clara), with solo piano music by Ken Hesketh, in May and returns to the Cheltenham and Presteigne Festivals later in the summer. Over the autumn, she curates three concerts for the BBC at the Belfast International Arts Festival, to be broadcast at a later date as part of the BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concerts series. In future seasons, Clare will make world premiere recordings of two keyboard concertos by Myslivecek with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra for BIS.

Her most recent disc release, ‘Etude’ has received unanimous critical praise for its “unfaltering bravura and conviction” (Gramophone) while the BBC Music Magazine stated that “this array of wizardry is not for the faint hearted”. ‘Etude’, and Hammond’s previous disc of music by Andrzej and Roxanna Panufnik, ‘Reflections’, have been featured on BBC Radio 3’s ‘In Tune’ and ‘CD Review’, and on radio in Switzerland, Sweden, the Netherlands, the US and Canada.

In 2014, Hammond gave a Panufnik Centenary tour of Poland with a series of recital and concerto performances, under the auspices of the British Council’s ‘Artists’ International Development Fund’. Her debut recital at the ‘Chopin and his Europe Festival’ in Warsaw was recorded for broadcast on Polish Radio. Hammond also co-curated and managed the festival ‘Panufnik 100: a family celebration’ with the Brodsky Quartet at Kings Place in London which was hailed as the “culmination of this year’s Andrzej Panufnik centenary” (The Telegraph).

Contemporary music forms an important part of Hammond’s work. She has given 24 world premieres including those of major works by composers Robert Saxton, Edwin Roxburgh, John McCabe and Arlene Sierra. In 2015, she premiered and recorded concertos for trumpet and piano by Geoffrey Gordon and Toby Young with Simon Desbruslais and the English Symphony Orchestra, to be released on Signum Records.

An active chamber musician, Hammond is a member of the Odysseus Piano Trio alongside violinist Sara Trickey and cellist Gregor Riddell. She has also worked with the Brodsky, Endellion, Badke, Dante and Piatti Quartets and in duos with Henning Kraggerud, Andrew Kennedy, Jennifer Pike, Philippe Graffin and Lawrence Power. In November 2015 she made her film debut as the younger version of Maggie Smith's character, 'Miss Shepherd', in the Alan Bennett film adaptation The Lady in the Van, directed by Nick Hytner.

Hammond completed a BA at Cambridge University, where she obtained a double first in music, and undertook postgraduate study with Ronan O’Hora at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and with Professor Rhian Samuel at City University London. She completed a doctorate on twentieth-century left-hand piano concertos in 2012 and is in demand as a speaker, regularly giving presentations for research series at universities across the UK. In 2014 she was paired with French pianist Anne Queffélec on the Philip Langridge Mentoring Scheme run by the Royal Philharmonic Society.

Hammond is grateful for the support of the Fidelio Charitable Trust, Help Musicians UK, Stradivari Trust, Ambache Charitable Trust, British Korean Society, Chandos Memorial Trust, Vernon Ellis Foundation, Polish Cultural Institute, RVW Trust, British Council, Arts Council England, John S Cohen Foundation, the Britten-Pears Foundation and the Hinrichsen Foundation.

Booklet for Variations