It’s always a coup when two internationally renowned soloists come together to play chamber music.

Stephen Hough performs an outstanding piano concerto to conclude the TSO’s Beethoven Celebration. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Lately Stephen Hough has become more interested in compiling themed programs from various sources than producing single-composer discs. Fortunately his standing as a musician allows him to do so, and the results are always illuminating and satisfying. This new recital of nocturnally inclined works proves no exception. While French pieces are left out altogether (such as perhaps Ravel’s Gaspard de la Nuit or Fauré’s Nocturnes), what is here is well chosen. Schumann provides the major part of the program, which opens with In der Nacht from his Fantasiestücke Op. 12. This turbulent nightscape is perfectly rendered. As ever, Hough’s technical assurance allows him to focus on conveying the meaning of the music, both in its pictorial aspect (a stormy night wind over the ocean) and concomitant emotional state. Both go hand in hand so closely in Schumann. Balancing this piece is the suite Carnaval, where Schumann presents a series of character studies as though seen at a masked ball (which would take place at night, of course). The 21 fleeting studies cover a variety of moods, but the overall impression is one of unbridled passion. Markings such as Vivo, Passionato, Anime and Presto abound. The challenges are many: specific character has…

Two 'Cinderella' pieces, but which deserves to wear the glass slipper?

The eclectic pianist talks about career choices, Aussie citizenship and the compulsion to compose.

These new performances are utterly compelling and deserve the widest possible audience.

Inside the brilliant but often misunderstood Jacqueline du Pré; plus pianists Willems, Hough and Hewitt and our Aussie Festivals Guide. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

>Following the success of his English and Spanish albums, Stephen Hough has come up with this thoughtfully planned, beautifully executed French album. Typically for Hough, the repertoire is anything but predictable. It opens with the familiar strains of Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. The Gallic connection lies in the transcription by the pianist Alfred Cortot, who was actually Swiss. Hough himself is a transcriber of note (or notes) and so we have his keyboard arrangements of Pizzicati from Delibes’ ballet Sylvia and Massenet’s song Crépuscule. Among the rarely played works are the charming Automne by Cécile Chaminade and Alkan’s quirky La chanson de la folle au bord de la mer. Two popular encores are included: Ravel’s Alborada del gracioso and Debussy’s Clair de lune, the latter sounding not at all hackneyed due to the surrounding context. There are multiple selections by Fauré and Poulenc, and the recital ends with a longer work, Liszt’s Réminiscences of Halévy’s opera La Juive. Hough invariably hones in on the specific quality that defines each piece. In the Ravel, it is humour, an aspect that pianists often neglect in their desire to remind us how difficult this music is to… Continue reading Get…

Our critics choose the discs any self-respecting pianophile simply must own.

From the elegance of Callas to Danielle de Niese's satin sheen and Stephen Hough's dapper hats...

The British pianist talks politics, blogs, bowler hats and trying his hand at composition. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Chopin's waltzes may be mere soufflés, but they are very tasty ones, says the British pianist.