Episode 103 — April 13, 2021
Alvin Curran: “Endangered Species” for piano
Performed by Conor Hanick

Pianist Conor Hanick practices his instrument in the dead of night these days. He recently moved to a new house with his wife and newborn baby, and finds the basement to be the most pristine place for music making, once the baby has fallen asleep. He’s turned these practice sessions into hushed, meditative moments, unwinding through delicate music. Alvin Curran’s whispering Endangered Species became part of this ritual, which he performs here for the House Music series.

Hanick has been a longtime collaborator of Metropolis Ensemble. His first major project with the group was a recording of Vivian Fung’s piano concerto, Dreamscapes, at Tanglewood in 2012. He describes this as an extraordinary experience—it was one of the first big albums he’d been a part of, the orchestra was outstanding, and working with Fung proved formative. Since then, he’s consistently worked with the group. And even when he isn’t performing with Metropolis, he views his experience with them as one of the most important facets of his musical life in New York.

Curran’s ability to glean every drop of expressivity from simple ingredients has always captured Hanick’s imagination. He’s been playing Endangered Species for many years, and while it’s not as large-scale as some of Curran’s other piano works, it still exemplifies how a slowly shifting interval can be potent. As Hanick has played the piece, he’s begun to see it as the calm before the storm, a hushed threat of something that’s waiting to take us over. It reflects our current moment, where uncertainty colors much of our lives.

Notes by Vanessa Ague

 
House Music: Bite-sized concerts recorded at homes around the world

In 2020-21, we created a weekly video series featuring short-form concerts of newly-commissioned works, supporting 208 artists around the world during the pandemic.