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Julia Hamos' Distinctive Debut Release "Ellis Island" · The Piano Maven with Jed Distler

• 0:07
  This is Jed Distler, and welcome to The Piano
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  Maven, your friendly podcast guide to piano recordings.
• 0:14
  You can subscribe to The Piano Maven through
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  my Substack page, and I've provided a link to
• 0:20
  do so in my episode comments, and your subscription
• 0:23
  will certainly help keep this podcast in production.
• 0:28
  The young Hungarian -American pianist Julia Hamas
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  is the subject of this episode. She studied at
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  the Royal Academy of Music in London with Christopher
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  Elton, and then she studied at the Manus School
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  in New York with Richard Goode. She's worked
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  very closely with András Schiff, and she serves
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  as his teaching assistant in a program for young
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  pianists at the Kronberg Academy. And she's been
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  quite... Active in Europe is a soloist and chamber
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  music player. And she seems as if she's heading
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  on the kind of career trajectory that one associates
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  with such well -rounded... musician pianists
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  like her mentors. She recently released a solo
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  piano recital debut disc on the Naive label called
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  Ellis Island, and the composers and works that
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  she selected add up to a really intelligently
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  curated program that reflects her Hungarian and
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  American roots. She provides really articulate
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  and heartfelt program notes that discuss what
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  characterizes the music she's picked and why
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  these works are important to her. But what's
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  more important to us, however, is the quality
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  of her music making. And I must tell you that
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  Julia Hamos is a fabulous pianist. Her playing
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  on this disc is terrific. every possible level.
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  The sheer finesse of her technique and pinpointed
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  tonal application, for example, I was just totally
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  knocked out. Her innate musicality informs every
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  bar of music she touches, and so does the fervent
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  commitment she brings to everything she plays.
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  And to top it off, the sonics on this disc are
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  just fantastic. gorgeous reproduction really
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  does full justice to her artistry. The opening
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  piece is called and it's by Kurtag. And Julia
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  Hamas shapes the onslaught of glissandos that
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  go up and down the keyboard in a way that creates
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  multi -level textures that each seem to have
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  their own color and dynamic scheme. It's as if
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  she was completely transcending the piano and
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  orchestrating. It's really quite something to
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  hear. By contrast, she gives beautiful transparency
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  and prism -like articulation to the title track,
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  Ellis Island, which is a composition by Meredith
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  Monk, and she really ennobles this music. Then
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  we have more Kurtog. Every note and every dynamic
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  and every accent and even every silence throughout
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  this composer's aphoristic eight pieces, opus
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  three, conveys intention and specificity in the
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  hands of Julia Hamos. Even that 30 second long
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  prestissimo possible, you know, she doesn't fluff
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  off anything. Every note in this teeny little
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  work has its own world. Then there is a transcription
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  of an improvised piano solo by Charles Mingus.
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  Yeah, I'm talking about the great jazz bassist
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  and composer and bandleader, because Charles
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  Mingus also loved to play the piano, and he actually
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  made a solo piano album of spontaneous compositions
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  and improvisations that included a track called
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  Myself When I Am Real. Now, I don't see any credit
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  for who might have transcribed myself when I
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  am real. But all I can say is that Julia Hamas
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  recreates it note for note. And dare I say that
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  she... builds upon Mingus's piano execution and
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  that she expands the dynamic range in those zigzagging
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  like runs that sound like a chimbalom and the
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  repeated note passages. And she also takes a
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  little more time than Mingus does in his original
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  recording to savor the harmonic richness of the
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  long sustained chords. But she does not prettify
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  or round off this music. She really gets Mingus
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  and his sound world. And I would have no doubt
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  that had Mingus lived to hear this recording,
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  he would have just loved it. At least I hope
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  he would have. I certainly love it. And Julia
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  Hamas plays Ligeti's etude fanfares as well as
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  anyone else on disc, and in some cases even better.
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  And she makes the Bartok dances in Bulgarian
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  rhythm from the microcosmos not only dance for
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  real, but she also makes them sing and speak.
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  And one can say the same for her colorfully idiomatic
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  and imaginatively voiced renditions of Bartók's
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  15 Hungarian peasant songs, as well as four pieces
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  from Kürtaug's Jatatok. She makes something really
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  special out of her encore, which is Schubert's
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  Hungarian Melody in B minor. András Schiff used
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  to play this as an encore quite a bit, and so
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  did Alfred Brendel come to think of it. But her
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  interpretation has a unique kind of lilt to the
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  left -hand accompaniment, and she never quite
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  arpeggiates the right -hand chords twice in the
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  same way. This is what I define as sophisticated
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  simplicity, and that's a cliche that I use in
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  way too many reviews and podcast episodes. Sophisticated
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  simplicity. But... You know, I've never heard
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  this little piece sound more meaningful or played
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  so well as Julia Hamos does here. So, in short,
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  this recital adds up to one of the most distinctive
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  solo piano debut releases that I've heard in
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  many years, and I highly, highly recommend it.
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  Julia Hamos, Ellis Island on the Naive Label.
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  This is Jed Disler, and you've been listening
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  to The Piano Maven, your friendly podcast guide
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  to piano recordings. Thank you so much for listening,
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  and I look forward to being with you for our
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  next episode.