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A Little Night Music from Stephen Hough

Jed Distler

Artistic Quality:

Sound Quality:

Stephen Hough’s penchant for intelligent thematic programming once again manifests itself throughout “In the Night”. Ironically, the music’s dark subtexts often benefit from the pianist’s interpretive “illumination”. The opening selection, “In der Nacht” from Schumann’s Fantasiestücke Op. 12, is a case in point. Hough not only controls the rolling, agitated left-hand accompaniment with no apparent effort, but also gives shape to the implicit stepwise bass lines that most other pianists ignore.

At first the Beethoven “Moonlight” sonata Adagio sostenuto appears to be uniformly muted, yet Hough spices the texture with a few strategically placed accents and caesuras. By contrast, the pianist’s sharply drawn dynamic contrasts and linear awareness in the brief Allegretto project the composer’s part writing as if played by a tightly knit string quartet. Hough may undersell the finale’s rough and tumble agitato qualities, yet his rock-solid rhythmic momentum and vivid textural definition compensate.

If anything, the two Chopin Op. 27 Nocturnes are more rarified, pianistically speaking. In No. 1, Hough’s steady yet sophisticated parsing of the left hand’s arpeggiated accompaniment and hauntingly disembodied right-hand melody seem to emanate from two different instruments. Hough’s brisk yet flexible tempo for No. 2, together with his floating, weightless tone and canny accentuations, help to liberate the music from the barlines.

The subtitle of Hough’s Piano Sonata No. 2 “notturno luminoso” refers to the brashness of a busy city at night. Hough’s piano writing always is idiomatic, fluent, and assured, even if the musical content tends to reveal more of what’s on the composer’s piano rack than in his innermost soul. For example, the clangorous opening chords combine Copland’s declamation and Messiaen’s clotted harmony. Arpeggiated passages that start in the extreme registers and work their way toward the middle of the keyboard contain polytonal tinges that could pass for York Bowen or early Sorabji. There’s also some fake Rachmaninov for good measure.

However, around the seven-minute mark, there’s a fascinating section that features jagged jabbing and bold figurations, mostly on the white keys. It says exactly what it means to say. Moments like these indicate that Hough is a real composer, just not all of the time. While I understand and respect the Second sonata’s ambitions, I find Hough’s First sonata (available on BIS) to be more concise and original.

Schumann’s Carnaval, of course, gushes originality from every pore, and the best performances revel in the work’s extreme mood shifts and varied cast of characters. Hough tends to underplay these characteristics. His suave Préambule misses Nelson Freire’s sense of abandon and giddiness, while Papillons and Reconnaissance are relatively plodding and earthbound next to Marc-André Hamelin’s joyfully brisk readings.

In the portrait of Chopin, Hough follows the Clara Schumann “tradition” by playing the repeat softer and more lyrically, sidestepping the composer’s Agitato request. But there are splendid moments too. In Lettres Dansantes, Hough’s additional legato articulations cast an interesting, almost offhanded spin on music that is often played in a light and detached manner. And by the time the Marche Des Davidsbündler Contre Les Philistins comes around, Hough has loosened up enough to channel a dead pianist or two.

Harriet Smith’s informative and superbly written annotations are a plus, not to mention Hough’s helpful guide to his Second sonata. But the reverberant sonics lack midrange definition and focus, in contrast to the warm and ample engineering that typifies many Hyperion piano releases.


Recording Details:

Album Title: In the Night
Reference Recording: Schumann Carnaval: Freire (Decca), Chopin Nocturnes: Moravec (Nonesuch), Beethoven Sonata Op. 27 No. 2: Serkin (Sony)

    Soloists: Stephen Hough (piano)

  • Record Label: Hyperion - 67996
  • Medium: CD

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