Unforgotten

The music of the forgotten Dutch composer Gerhard Hamm (1835-1904) was an exceptional and purely accidental discovery. After a concert, one of the composer’s descendants gave me a stack of scores. It turned out to be beautiful and poetic music, completely buried under the dust of history.
In 2021, I made a first recording with works by Hamm. A significant amount of music was still hidden in the national archives that deserves to be heard.

Hamm meant a great deal to the cultural life in the south of the Netherlands. He lived in Venlo for most of his life. He was a member of music and literature societies and considered it important to be connected to a broad collective in order to advance the arts. he has a vast musical legacy as a composer, conductor, soloist, and teacher and wrote a total of approximately 500 works for various ensembles and instruments.

The music.

In the Albumblatt – Nocturne is sensitive with beautiful changes in color and expression. It is an attractive little gem, originally for piano four hands, here arranged for piano solo by composer Joey Roukens (1982).
In his 6 Clavierstücke ‘Verlorne Lieb’, you hear a particularly beautiful and authentic sensitivity to sound. These pieces are short beautiful poems, each with their own character with expressive changes in mood.

The Etude feels like a meditation with outbursts of passion. The piece is almost intoxicating and has a dreamy and floating atmosphere. The Impromptu shows a completely different side of Hamm. The piece sounds like an improvisation and has a musical fluidity to it that is created spontaneously on the spot.

I did not want to leave Hamm’s son Karel out of the album. He is modestly present with a disarming Wiegenliedje. Karel Hamm composed 350 works. In addition, he wrote ‘The study of Counterpoint’, a practical handbook containing the basic rules, tips, and advice on counterpoint in music.

In the Cappriccio, Hamm’s sensitivity for melodic beauty is very evident. The piece is a musical story full of imagination and unexpected twists and turns.

Hamm’s musical language is creative, sensitive, and full of wonder. He is a very sincere composer that certainly had something to say. In the romantic storm of the 19th century he embraced a subtle and poetic way of writing. The expression of personal emotions driven by love for music. A quest for pure beauty, moving in its simplicity. With this album, the heritage of Hamm receives its deserved place in the musical canon.