Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Stephen Hough is the Greatest

pianist in the world.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pt9KVYzZEbY&feature=related

that is all.

Another beautiful performance by Hough:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtqQAfoNCeI

Not only does he play well, he writes well also. I met him back in my uni years, a very fine chap. We talked a bit about Kenneth Leighton, whom I only knew from his Anglican Church music, but Mr. Hough was very enthusiastic about a solo piano piece he was going to play in recital. I subsequently heard that, can't say it was any blazing masterpiece -sorry- but my jaw dropped. It was incredibly well played.

So then why was the closing Schumann Carnival such a letdown? Forgive me, at the end it appeared that Hough's technique was pushed to the max.

For those interested -which would probably not include anyone here- Stephen Hough contributed a very fine essay in the book "Elgar - An Anniversary Portrait."

Very cogently written, it detailed his path to Roman Catholicism via his young exposure to The Dream of Gerontius. The essay is terrific reading -and I am not RC myself- but it gives an interesting insight into England's forbidden religion, the cayenne pepper on the Anglican Church.

I'm going to see him this Thursday at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, and believe it or not, tickets to get in to see him are free!!!

Lovely.

Makes you wonder how many "greatest" pianists are lurking in the forum, still to be discovered. That's a nice thought.

My favorite living pianist is Pompa-Baldi. His control, balance, voicing, and power are just incredible. His Brahms variations were absolutely frightening.

Here is the best Scriabin 4 performance I've heard (with great respect to Koji, nonetheless).

Didn't really grab me, I much prefer this one:

http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=NbSZWTnVV-k

I love Hough. His Rach 3 is something to behold. Love his transcriptions, too.

Hough is fantastic. An excellent pianist and a humble man.

As far as Scriabin 4 goes, Gilels 1957 remains my favourite.

Hi Jason,

I am very intrigued with this Carnaval. You've mentioned it a number of times, and each time you have qualified it with surprise. I'll find out - it seems strange that he would be troubled with it.

I agree with your assessment of Stephen's writing skills. Very well thought out and communicated. There is a small nuggett on his www about winning the Naumberg. A lot of people could get some real insights from that, especially the thread about learning speed.

Mike

Where is the thread mentioning speed?

I only heard Mr. Hough play it once, but it was an oddly frustrating performance. All sorts of "inner voices" keep popping up through the texture, and after a while they just seemed to impede the natural flow of the music.

And then at the end -perhaps he didn't pace himself?- it felt like a desperate race to the finish line. No cathartic sense of exultation or victory!

Please bear in mind, though, that I'm only referencing this one performance. I hold Stephen Hough in the highest regard, I have many of his CDs -and per my earlier post- he is also a very astute writer.

I agree Hough is great - I met him ages ago before he really became famous and heard a couple of recitals in my piano teacher's house.

I think sometimes his technique gets in the way of the music being truly great. When he's not trying to do everything technically with some music, then he allows himself more musical emotion. I think that's what happens at the end of that Carnival, and I've heard similar criticisms about other performances of his.

But he is a great pianist - I would guess one of the top ten performers at the mometn.

Inner voices indeed!
I heard him play the c#m waltzof Mr Chopin, and Stephen is the only pianist I've heard who brings out the long descending chromatic line in the A section.
One of his upcoming CDs will have this piece on it

Mike

My vote for a captivating Scriabin 4:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xLfUutfBd0

Heard him live about 9 years ago. Eye-opening Chopin 2nd and 3rd sonatas.


Back to topic - I've only heard Hough live once, but it was very good. First half was Kreisleriana, second half was showpieces, mostly Liszt. I was more impressed with the second half, although that's probably because I'm extremely particular about Kreisleriana performances, there are only a handful of recordings I can stand. (Of the dozen or so I own, Egorov, Lupu and early Horowitz are the three I keep coming back to, with Grimaud, Rubenstein, and Argerich populating the next tier down. The rest are disappointing, and yes, that includes Perahia, Pollini, Uchida and Schiff. I've not heard Annie Fischer's or Fiorentino's, but I suspect they may also be good.

Okay, gonna be quiet now, I should know better than to get all riled up about Op. 16.

If any fans of Stephen Hough still don't have his award-winning, critically acclaimed breakthrough 1987 recording of Hummel's piano concertos Opp. 85 and 89, buy it!

It's a spectacular performance of two consistently delightful compositions. If you like Mozart and Chopin in the least bit, you will love these delicious concertos.

I've listened to this CD hundreds of times by now, and have run out of adequate superlatives to do it justice.

p.s. Carnaval, Kreisleriana ... could it be that Hough doesn't have a strong affinity for Schumann? I checked his discography, and it looks like he's only recorded Op. 6 and Op. 17.

Steven

This may be a dumb question - but how do you pronounce his name?

Hough = Huff (as in "I'll huff and puff and blow your house down!")


if memory serves...

I own Hough's recording of Mendelssohn's piano concerti and other works with orchestra, and it is quite well done. Nothing fussy about it. Just clean, stylistic playing of this under-appreciated repertoire. If I have one quibble, I think the 2nd movement of the 1st concerto feels a bit rushed.

I also highly recommend this disc. It's on Chandos: CHAN 8507.

Regards,