Listen & tracks

4 works · 19:08

1 Sarabande Johann Sebastian Bach 3:30
2 Gigue Johann Sebastian Bach 1:44
3 Hika, in memoriam Toru Takemitsu Leo Brouwer 6:34
4 Le Départ, Fantasie dramatique, Op. 31 Napoléon Coste 7:20

Bach’s works have long been a constant source of musical inspiration, and the Keyboard Partita no. 1 BWV 825 is no exception. This recording presents a resourceful arrangement by German guitarist Tilman Hoppstock.

In Hika, in memoriam Toru Takemitsu, Leo Brouwer shapes an atmosphere close to the work’s dedicatee. He sets that quiet material against some of his most familiar and loved motifs.

The programme closes with Napoléon Coste’s two-part fantasy Le Départ, a deeply programmatic piece inspired by the Siege of Sebastopol. The opening section, Le Départ, depicts soldiers leaving for war: melancholy at parting, agitation at what lies ahead. The second section, Le Retour, charts the return. It begins with a Marche Triomphale, grows through increasingly grandiose gestures, and ends in a virtuosic coda.

In the artist’s words

This program is a short collection of music which inspired me and accompanied me throughout my time in Canberra, Darmstadt and Hamburg from 2013 to 2022. It forms a small selection of my repertoire across these years, nonetheless I wanted to share these recordings in this fragmented form as they, to me, represent different periods of my artistic development and evoke strong memories and associations with the different places I have lived during my academic studies and professional career. I have called this collection Impulses, as these are works with which I have felt strong and clear artistic impulses.

Bach’s works have been, albeit cliché, a constant source of musical inspiration. The Keyboard Partita no. 1 BWV 825 is no exception. This recording features a beautifully resourceful and creative arrangement by German guitarist Tilman Hoppstock.

In Hika, in memoriam Toru Takemitsu I have been captivated by Leo Brouwer’s ability to craft an atmosphere reminiscent of the composition’s dedicatee and inspiration, Toru Takemitsu. Brouwer juxtaposes this atmospheric material with some of his most well-used and loved motifs.

The recording then closes with a two-part fantasy by Napoléon Coste, Le Départ. The work is deeply programmatic and was inspired by the Siege of Sebastopol. The first section bears the title Le Départ, depicting the departure of soldiers heading to war, filled with the melancholy of leaving loved ones behind and the agitation and apprehension of what is yet to come. The second section of the work is marked Le Retour, and illustrates the return from war. It begins with a Marche Triomphale and develops with increasingly grandiose gestures and eventually erupting into a virtuosic coda to close the work.

— Hamish Strathdee

Artists

Hamish Strathdee

guitar

Classical guitarist, Hamish Strathdee, is regarded as an "excellent young Australian performer" (Limelight Magazine).

Johann Sebastian Bach

composer

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) was a German composer and organist of the late Baroque. His sacred and secular music for choir, orchestra, organ and solo instruments remains among the foundations of the Western concert and church repertory.

Leo Brouwer

composer

Leo Brouwer’s guitar music moves between Cuban pulse, modernist experiment and later modal clarity. The Etudes Simples, Hika in memory of Takemitsu, Micro Pieza and Berceuse show how sharply he can shape atmosphere and motif.

Napoléon Coste

composer

Napoléon Coste's guitar music carries French Romantic drama and song: programmatic fantasies that send soldiers to war and bring them home in triumph, beside short romances and cantilènes of quiet, flowing melody.

Tilman Hoppstock

composer

Tilman Hoppstock (born 1961) is a German classical guitarist, cellist and musicologist. A recitalist and teacher based in Darmstadt, he also publishes arrangements and original works for guitar.