Hans Otte: The Book of Sounds Conor Hanick

• Hans Otte (1926 - 2007): The Book of Sounds:
• 1 Otte: The Book of Sounds: Part 1 10:27
• 2 Otte: The Book of Sounds: Part 2 09:18
• 3 Otte: The Book of Sounds: Part 3 06:26
• 4 Otte: The Book of Sounds: Part 4 03:04
• 5 Otte: The Book of Sounds: Part 5 05:07
• 6 Otte: The Book of Sounds: Part 6 02:17
• 7 Otte: The Book of Sounds: Part 7 06:59
• 8 Otte: The Book of Sounds: Part 8 04:15
• 9 Otte: The Book of Sounds: Part 9 02:11
• 10 Otte: The Book of Sounds: Part 10 10:45
• 11 Otte: The Book of Sounds: Part 11 02:26
• 12 Otte: The Book of Sounds: Part 12 05:10
• Total Runtime 01:08:25

Info zu Hans Otte: The Book of Sounds

Praised as one of his generation’s most inquisitive interpreters of music new and old whose “technical refinement, color, crispness and wondrous variety of articulation benefit works by any master,” (The New York Times) pianist Conor Hanick interprets the rarely performed The Book of Sounds (Das Buch der Klänge) by German composer Hans Otte (1926-2007) with a voice on the piano unlike any other. The 12-movement minimalist solo piano work, written between 1979-1982, demonstrates the full range of dynamics, timbre, and resonance of the piano in a spiritual and meditative juxtaposition of sound and silence. Hanick offers two intimate performances which take full advantage of the glistening acoustics of The Dome.

This 'Book of Sounds' rediscovers the listener as a partner of sound and silence, who in the quest for his world, wishes for once to be totally at one with sound. (Hans Otte)

In Otte's words, "This Book of Sounds rediscovers the listener as a partner of sound and silence, who in the quest for his world, wishes for once to be totally at one with sound. It rediscovers the piano as an instrument of timbre and tuneful sound with all its possibilities of dynamics, colour and resonance. Book of Sounds rediscovers playing as the possibility of experiencing oneself in sound, of becoming at one in time and space with all the sounds around one. It rediscovers a world of consonant experience which could only now be written because of a totally changed consciousness of sounds on earth."

Conor Hanick, piano

Conor Hanick
is regarded as one of his generation’s most inquisitive interpreters of music new and old whose “technical refinement, color, crispness and wondrous variety of articulation benefit works by any master.” (New York Times) Hanick’s playing, “a revelation of clarity and bite,” recalled to the Times’ Anthony Tommasini a “young Peter Serkin,” and his performance of John Cage’s Sonatas and Interludes was, according to Times’ critic David Allan, “the best instrumental concert I have seen all year,” praise echoed by the Boston Globe, which named the performance “Best Solo Recital” of 2019.

Hanick has recently performed with the San Francisco Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Alabama Symphony, Orchestra Iowa, and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, been presented by the Gilmore Festival, New York Philharmonic, Elbphilharmonie, De Singel, Centre Pompidou, Caramoor, Cal Performances, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Park Avenue Armory, and the Ojai Festival, where in 2022 with AMOC* (American Modern Opera Company) he served as the festival’s artistic director. A fierce advocate for the music of today, and “the soloist of choice for such thorny works.” (New York Times) Hanick has premiered over 200 pieces and collaborated with composers both emerging and iconic; among them, Hanick has worked with Pierre Boulez, Kaija Saariaho, Steve Reich, Tania León, and Charles Wuorinen, in addition to the leading composers of his generation, including Nico Muhly, Caroline Shaw, Tyshawn Sorey, Anthony Cheung, and Samuel Carl Adams, whose piano concerto, No Such Spring, he premiered in 2023 with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the San Francisco Symphony.

This season Hanick presents solo and chamber recitals in the US and Europe, including concerts at Hancher Auditorium, the Wallis, Santa Barbara Arts and Lectures, Cal Performances, Segerstrom Center, Stanford Live, Guild Hall, Kaufman Center, Musikverein, and elsewhere. He appears with the Phoenix and Alabama Symphonies in works by Stravinsky, Gershwin, and a new piano concerto by Carlos Izcaray, one of a handful of premieres this season that also includes solo pieces by Matthew Aucoin and Nico Muhly, a trio by Tania León, and a piano quintet by Mathew Rosenblum. A committed chamber musician and ensemble member, Hanick joins Julia Bullock, Seth Parker Woods, Timo Andres, the JACK Quartet, and AMOC* in a variety of collaborative projects ranging from a US tour of Harawi to performances of Sufjan Stevens’ two piano ballet Reflections.

Since 2014 Hanick has been a faculty artist at the Music Academy of the West and in 2018 became the director of its Solo Piano Program. He has given lectures and masterclasses in Asia, Europe, and throughout the US, including Northwestern University, the New England Conservatory, UCLA, University of Washington, University of Massachusetts Amherst, and University of Iowa. He is a member of the keyboard and chamber music faculty of The Juilliard School, Mannes College, and the CUNY Graduate Center. A Yamaha Artist, Hanick is a graduate of Northwestern University and the Juilliard School. He lives in the Hudson Valley with his wife, son, and Westies.

Booklet für Hans Otte: The Book of Sounds