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On November 1, Benjamin Hochman presents Resonance, a solo piano program of works by George Benjamin, John Dowland, Josquin des Prez, and Ludwig van Beethoven. Alongside the album debut, Hochman will perform the program in recital at Bard College in New York on November 8.
Resonance
Beethoven • Benjamin • Dowland • Josquin
Benjamin Hochman, piano
November 1, 2024 (AV2681)
Benjamin Hochman offers his fourth album for AVIE, Resonance – a program that resonates with music spanning six centuries. Two late Beethoven sonatas, Op. 109 and Op. 110, are the pillars of the program. In between are two Renaissance works by Josquin des Prez and John Dowland, plus a masterpiece by one of today’s most heralded living composers, George Benjamin.
“Beethoven achieved a kind of timelessness, stretching to the limit what music can say, looking far into the future and far into the past,” says Hochman. “He looks far into the future by striving for ever richer sounds, conceiving powerfully original musical ideas, and building masterful musical structures. He looks far into the past by integrating traditional forms such as variations and fugue, reflecting earlier musical styles, even quoting fleeting musical motives from Bach. But most of all, he transcends any particular era by exploring emotions both primal and sublime. I feel that framing Beethoven with very old and very new music gives it surprising resonance, opening our ears to hear things afresh.”
In his late piano sonatas, Beethoven created music of extraordinary originality, simultaneously looking far into the future and far into the past. Hochman pays homage to this Janus-faced aspect with the inclusion of two works from the Renaissance alongside Sir George Benjamin’s Shadowlines from 2001.
The first Renaissance piece is the motet Ave Christe, attributed to Josquin de Prez, the Franco-Flemish composer frequently compared to Beethoven by virtue of his wide-ranging impact. Hochman plays a piano transcription made in 1988 by American composer Charles Wuorinen.
Flow, my tears – the lamenting melody that best represents the signature melancholia of the English Renaissance figure John Dowland – originated as a solo lute song and was published under the title Lachrimae in 1596. Its popularity led to a plethora of arrangements around Europe, including the one Hochman has chosen by Dowland’s elder contemporary, William Byrd.
The album’s most recently composed music is Benjamin’s Shadowlines, a set of six preludes which use a variety of canonic techniques that unfold subliminally, echoes concealed by echoes. Benjamin follows Beethoven’s cue in repurposing old techniques – including a passacaglia in the longest of the set – as conveyors of new revelations.
“This program is a journey from darkness to light, a study in contrasts that nevertheless finds resonance across the centuries, ultimately finding transcendence and even triumph,” Benjamin Hochman concludes.
On November 8, Hochman plays a Resonance recording release concert at Bard College.
TRACKLIST
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770–1827)
Piano Sonata No. 30 in E Major, Op. 109
1. I. Vivace, ma non troppo, sempre legato – Adagio espressivo
2. II. Prestissimo
3. III. Gesangvoll, mit innigster Empfindung. Andante molto cantabile ed espressivo
JOSQUIN DES PREZ (c.1450/55–1521); arr. Charles Wuorinen (1938–2020)
4. Ave Christe (arr. by Charles Wuorinen)
GEORGE BENJAMIN (b.1960)
Shadowlines, Six Canonic Preludes for Piano
5. I. Cantabile
6. II. Wild
7. III. Scherzando
8. IV. Tempestoso
9. V. Very Freely – Faster but Calm – Spacious and Solemn
10. VI. Gently Flowing, Flexible
JOHN DOWLAND (1563–1626); arr. William Byrd (1543–1623)
11. Pavane Lachrymae, P. 15/MB54 (arr. William Byrd)
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
Piano Sonata No. 31 in A Flat Major, Op. 110
12. I. Moderato cantabile molto espressivo
13. II. Allegro molto
14. III. Adagio ma non troppo-Arioso dolente–Fuga-Allegro ma non troppo
Benjamin Hochman, piano
ABOUT THE ARTIST
In all roles, from soloist to chamber musician to conductor, Benjamin Hochman regards music as vital and essential. Composers, fellow musicians, orchestras and audiences recognize his deep commitment to insightful programming and performances of quality.
Born in Jerusalem in 1980, Hochman’s musical foundation was laid in his teenage years. Claude Frank at the Curtis Institute of Music and Richard Goode at the Mannes School of Music proved defining influences. At the invitation of Mitsuko Uchida, he spent three formative summers at the Marlboro Music Festival.
At 24, Hochman debuted as a soloist with the Israel Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall conducted by Pinchas Zukerman. Orchestral appearances followed with the New York Philharmonic, Chicago and Pittsburgh Symphonies, and Prague Philharmonia under conductors including Gianandrea Noseda, Trevor Pinnock, David Robertson, John Storgårds and Joshua Weilerstein.
A winner of Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Career Grant, Hochman performed at venues and festivals across the globe, including the Philharmonie in Berlin, Vienna Konzerthaus, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Austria’s Schubertiade, Germany’s Klavierfestival Ruhr and the Lucerne and Verbier festivals in Switzerland.
In 2015, Hochman developed an auto-immune condition affecting his left hand. He decides to pursue his longstanding interest in conducting, studying with Alan Gilbert at Juilliard where he was granted the Bruno Walter Scholarship and the Charles Schiff Award. He assisted Louis Langrée, Paavo Järvi, Rafael Payare, Thierry Fischer, and Edo de Waart, and created the Roosevelt Island Orchestra, consisting of some of New York’s finest orchestral and chamber musicians alongside promising young talent from top conservatories. Invitations to conduct the orchestras of Szeged in Hungary, Santa Fe Pro Musica, Orlando, Bridgeport, and The Orchestra Now at Bard New York followed.
Fully recovered, Hochman re-emerged as a pianist in 2018. He recorded Mozart Piano Concertos Nos. 17 and 24, playing and directing the English Chamber Orchestra (Avie Records). He presented the complete Mozart Piano Sonatas at the Israel Conservatory in Tel Aviv, performed Beethoven sonatas for Daniel Barenboim as part of a filmed workshop at the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin and played both Beethoven and Kurtág for György Kurtág himself at the Budapest Music Centre.
Hochman is a Steinway Artist and a resident of Berlin, where he is a Lecturer at Bard College Berlin.
To request CD copies or digital recordings Resonance, contact:
Rebecca Davis · Rebecca Davis Public Relations
rebecca@rebeccadavispr.com · 347.432.8832