Daniel Laumans

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Daniel Laumans (* August 1972 in Bracht near Brüggen , district of Viersen ) is a German pianist , composer and music researcher specializing in keyboard instruments .

Life

Laumans received his first music lessons at the age of three from the pianist Paula Winkelhog. At the age of eight he switched to Bernhard Herrmann and began his own compositions. Between 1983 and 1988 he completed his junior studies at the Rheinische Musikschule Köln. His debut concert with the composition of a theatrical music for " Le Petit Prince " also fell during this time . From 1988 Daniel Laumans lived in Jamaica for four years . He studied improvised music at the “Wareika Hills Department” of the University of the West Indies and, in addition to jazz , dealt with African music tradition and theological aspects of Rastafarian .

Between 2000 and 2003 he went to Poland to study at the Jagiellonian University . As the last student of Tadeusz Machl , Laumans took the subjects of composition and instrumentation . His interest in baroque music and instrumental technique led to additional training in "historical keyboard instruments" with Krzysztof Latala at the Kraków Music Academy . During the recording of his final concert for Polish television ( TVP2 ), Laumans deviated from the planned program in 2003 and got into his improvisation.

Already in 1990, during his stay in the Caribbean, Lauman's interest in forgotten compositions for piano was awakened. Most of them are works by European immigrants and missionaries for clavichord , harpsichord , organ and fortepiano . Due to the distance to the overseas country of origin as well as an internationally poorly networked publishing system with expensive sheet music , musicians were dependent on composing music for trade fairs, lessons and house music themselves and recording it by hand. Often elements of the folk music of the various immigrants as well as rhythms and melodies of the population, the slaves , who were deported from Africa to the New World are incorporated into their compositions . Many of these works have hardly been performed since the 19th century, and some have been lost. Laumans found the scores in church archives, in attics, in the cellars of old private villas and foundations and performed them together with his own compositions between 1993 and 1999.

From 2004 Laumans gave piano, harpsichord and organ lessons in Koblenz. The pianist also worked intensively on music for old keyboard instruments in his job title and calls himself a clavierist . With his appearances he finances further research. Research trips lead back to Jamaica, Portugal, Poland and Spain. Laumans combines the stays with concerts in front of a specialist audience. For appearances, Laumans prefers the recital form and opens concerts with the baroque music of Johann Sebastian Bach . On this basis, once lost compositions and rare pieces as well as own works are then performed. Woven into the program are anecdotes and stories they have given themselves about the composers and the circumstances in which their works were created and rediscovered. So he got z. B. sent an old shoebox from a Swedish estate via the Statens Musikbibliotek containing piano pieces by Johann Friedrich Hugo von Dalberg .

Lauman's discovery of a composition by Domenico Scarlatti caused a sensation in professional circles . Until 2006, it was one of Avila's keyboard manuscripts . Gaspar Smit (1767–1819), a composer from Spain, created the collection for his student. Lauman's deeper research reveals that the collection also contains an unknown D major sonata by the “sorcerer of the baroque harpsichord”: “Sonata / Don Domenico Escarlati / punto alto”.

As part of the “Festival Internacional de Musica para Tecla Espanola” (FIMTE) in Andalusia, 2007 under the patronage of Gerhard Doderer , Laumans brought the restituted Scarlatti sonata together with other apocryphal works, including a. performed by Padre Antonio Soler on the harpsichord. This was followed by Lauman's world premiere recording of eight sonatas by Gaspar Smit for the CD “Claviermanuskripte aus Avila, Part 1”.

With the project “Bach, Mosel & More”, Laumans undertook a musical journey through the “Kurtrier era” until 1794 in 2008. In this series of concerts along the Moselle with stops in Koblenz (Görressaal, Rheinische Philharmonie), in Cochem (Capuchin monastery) and in Archbishop's Palace, Trier, Laumans presented his, for the first time ever undertaken, transcription of the concert The Winter from The Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi for piano.

In early 2009 Lauman's research into undiscovered and unpublished compositions took him to India. Old prints and manuscripts containing Hindustan folk tunes from Calcutta and Lucknow , adapted for harpsichord , were searched for and analyzed . Laumans received support from the Chief Conductor of the Indian Philharmonic Orchestra, Zane Dalal, and the National Center for Performing Arts , Mumbai. Shortly after his return, the concert “Bach plus X” took place in the old town hall of Potsdam with the world premiere of four “Karnatic Valses”, which Laumans composed on the basis of traditional music from South India, as well as sonatas by Gaspar Smit and Johann Friedrich Hugo von Dalberg , Improvisations and character pieces by Franz Schubert , Louis Moreau Gottschalk and Lauman's piano version from The Four Seasons . The concert recording "Bach plus X" (DVD, directed by Michael F. Huse ) also contains a conversation between Kamal Roy and Daniel Laumans about his music research.

Clavier club

In 2007 Laumans founded the international "Clavierverein". Together with the Spanish publisher Martin Voortman and the British organist John Collins, he pursues the goal of collecting, performing and recording rare music for keyboard instruments. The focus is on the piano literature of the Baroque period for the clavichord . During the Sturm und Drang , the “instrument of midnight” was a popular house instrument, especially in Germany, Russia, Spain and Portugal. Since its sensual, quiet resonance is unsuitable for the large audience, it only reaches up to 30 listeners, the instrument could not prevail in concert performances.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Laumans, Daniel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German pianist, composer and music researcher
DATE OF BIRTH August 1972
PLACE OF BIRTH Bracht near Brüggen , Viersen district