Clare Hammond (piano)

Music in Peebles

Montgeroult | Selection from Etudes
Piazzolla, arr. Davies | Suite from A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Brahms | Six Piano Pieces, Op.118

Richard Barnard | Neanderthal Ballads (2020)
W. G. Still | The Bells
Szymanowski | Variations on a Polish Theme, Op.10

Since her first visit to Peebles in April 2018 as a rising young star, Clare Hammond has become one of the UK's foremost and most in-demand pianists. For this very welcome return, she brings a typically eclectic and fascinating programme, showcasing her interests in Polish music, neglected women composers and contemporary works.

In that last connection, Clare is very active in commissioning new music; on her previous visit to Peebles, she gave the world premiere of 'Purgatorio', which she commissioned from Malcolm Hayes. This time, we will hear the second performance of another commission, 'Neanderthal Ballads', in which composer Richard Barnard explores connections between our early ancestors and ourselves (we miss out on the premiere, which Clare plays in Oban on Saturday).

The recital opens with a selection from the 114 études by Hélène de Montgeroult, the first woman to be appointed Professor at the Paris Conservatoire. As a composer, she was well ahead of her time, writing in an early Romantic style, although born only a few years after Mozart.

Polish music is represented by a youthful work of Szymanowski, the Variations on a Polish Theme, much influenced at the time by Chopin and Scriabin. The theme and ten variations are followed by a real tour-de-force of a finale, climbing the heights and plumbing the depths before the heroic conclusion.

Along with music by Piazzolla, the creator of 'nuevo tango', William Grant Still, the 'Dean of African-American composers', and Brahms (his Six Piano Pieces, Op.118), this concert is as breathtaking in its range as it will be in its execution. Don't miss it!