In August 2020, composer Jaap Nico Hamburger released the commercial recording of his Piano Concerto on Leaf Music performed by Assaff Weisman and l’Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal, Vincent de Kort, conductor. Mr. Hamburger spoke with us about his inspiration behind this work.
What made you interested in writing a piano concerto?
My musical training was primarily focused on becoming a concert pianist. Consequently, and for many years, I had the privilege of studying the works of the masters in the very extensive piano literature. In the early 2000’s, I was approached by Jacob Boogaart, a Dutch concert pianist, who spent many years compiling an anthology of Dutch keyboard music. He came to visit me in Vancouver (where I lived at the time) and told me he had recorded compositions from the 1600s all the way up to the 1990s. But he had no works that had been composed in the 21st century. He then asked me if I would contribute to his recording. The thought of adding to the existing - and deeply revered - piano literature was rather scary and, as I realized, something I had until then deliberately avoided. I took up the challenge and composed both a solo sonata in two movements (Jacob Boogaart recorded the second movement; http://www.jacobbogaart.com/portfolio/the-art-of-dutch-keyboard-music/) and the piano concerto.
What challenges do you face when writing a piece for piano and orchestra?
The work turned out to be rather large, with three movements and a score that requires the forces of a sizable symphony orchestra. The challenges were plenty, including but not limited to: making it interesting enough for pianists to spend the time and effort to study and perform the work, to make good use of the orchestra in terms of instrumentation, but also to be able to tell my audience a story that requires them to stay engaged for more than twenty minutes.
How did you and the pianist Assaff Weisman connect about this project?
I was already aware of Assaff’s work as pianist with the fantastic Israel Chamber Project. When the opportunity came up to record the work and I asked my agent Barbara Scales to suggest a soloist, the universe came together when her very first and enthusiastic reaction was ‘call Assaff!’. I remember that I reached him by phone as he was on tour. Much to my surprise, he got back to me within 24 hours with a very detailed and technical question about one particular bar in the second movement….while on tour, he had read and played through the entire work within a day! I also remember that within no time, he invited me to a Skype meeting in which he played through the entire work from memory. The man is a genius! The combination of Assaff’s art, the phenomenal quality of L’Orchestre Metropolitain de Montreal, and the pure joy of working with conductor Vincent de Kort made this recording for me an unforgettable experience. Of course, the quality of the team, including Misha Aster as producer and Jeremy VanSlyke of Leaf Music as chief recording technician contributed immensely to the quality of this recording.