Mattias Spee plays Hans Henkemans: Sonata for piano

Описание: Hans Henkemans: Sonata for piano
00:00 - 1. Allegro molto moderato
04:04 - 2. Molto adagio
09:23 - 3. Allegro ma non troppo

Dutch pianist and and composer Hans Henkemans was at the beginning of his promising career when the Second World War started. During the German occupancy, he refused to register at the "Kultuurkamer" (Chamber of Culture) out of solidarity with his friends who were being persecuted by the Nazis. This meant his career as a musician was put on hold. In 1945 he would finally have his long-awaited breakthrough as a soloist with the Concertgebouw Orchestra in his own composition: the Passacaglia & Gigue for piano and orchestra. It was the start of something special. In the following years, Henkemans would establish himself as an internationally renowned concert pianist, touring the world with his own compositions as well as distinguishing himself as an excellent interpreter of Debussy and Mozart especially. It was in this period that he wrote his Sonata for piano, for which Henkemans was awarded the Visser Neerlandia Prize of 1964. He was on top of the world, but he didn't know his fortune was about to change.

In the 1960s, the younger generation of avant-garde composers got a strong foothold in the classical music scene. A group of young Dutch musicians banded together to form the so-called "Notenkrakers". Reinbert de Leeuw, Mischa Mengelberg, Louis Andriessen, Peter Schat and several others propagated that all music that perpetuated traditional tonality was old-fashioned and upheld the oppressive feudal systems which had led to the destruction they had witnessed growing up during the Second World War. Hans Henkemans was one of their prime targets and they made it their mission to sabotage his career. This coincided most unfortunately with Henkemans's being forced to withdraw from performing on stage due to health issues. One of the most succesful musicians of the 1940s and 1950s saw his career crumbling away, but was powerless to stop it. The final nail in the coffin was the appointment of Hein van Royen, a friend of the Notenkrakers and a fervent opponent of Henkemans, as director of the Concertgebouw. After that, Henkemans's music was never played again at the Concertgebouw, the stage where he had celebrated the biggest successes of his career.

Nowadays, Hans Henkemans is almost forgotten, but his legacy is in the process of rightfully being restored. In 2022, the Hans Henkemans Foundation was established to promote his work and in subsequent years, several of his compositions, some of them previously unpublished, have been performed again.

This video was recorded in July of 2022 at the Muziekgebouw Eindhoven during the recording sessions for the Eclipse albums. For this project, Mattias Spee recorded several "hidden gems of the piano repertoire". This piece by Hans Henkemans is certainly one of them!

For more videos, check out Mattias Spee's YouTube channel, or go to www.mattiasspee.com