Notes and Editorial Reviews
Listening to this collection of miniatures by English composers is akin to passing a pleasant afternoon in a small gallery run by a fastidious, knowledgable, and quietly enthusiastic curator. These adjectives define Stephen Hough's scrupulous, full-bodied, and technically impeccable performances. He revels in the sensuous harmonic felicities that color Stephen Reynolds' pastiches and makes an easy task of York Bowen's fustian textures cut from the cloth of Rachmaninov and Medtner. Of Hough's two "Ravel-meets-Gerswhin-meets-Sondheim" Waltzes, the second holds more mystery and substance. Alan Rawsthorne's terse neo-classic style will please listeners who respond to like-minded craftsmen from this side of
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the pond such as Piston and Barber. Kenneth Leighton's serious, substantial Study-Variations provide plenty of grist for Hough's virtuosic mill: crackling, Bartókian call-and-response flourishes, gnarly Messiaen color chords at all tempos, and (in the third movement), haunting steel-colored repeated phrases that journey in slow motion from the middle register to treble and bass extremes. If you tend toward piano music's less beaten paths, this disc's for you. [7/20/2002]
--Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com Read less
Works on This Recording
1.
Bagatelles (4) for Piano by Alan Rawsthorne
Performer:
Stephen Hough (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1938; England
Date of Recording: 01/2001
Venue: Henry Wood Hall, London, England
Length: 5 Minutes 42 Secs.
2.
Poems (2) in Homage to Delius by Stephen Reynolds
Performer:
Stephen Hough (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1980s; England
Date of Recording: 09/1997
Venue: St. George's, Brandon Hill, Bristol
Length: 11 Minutes 31 Secs.
3.
In Smyrna by Sir Edward Elgar
Performer:
Stephen Hough (Piano)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1905; England
Date of Recording: 01/2001
Venue: Henry Wood Hall, London, England
Length: 4 Minutes 26 Secs.
4.
Song to the Seals by Granville Bantock
Performer:
Stephen Hough (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: by 1930; England
Date of Recording: 01/2001
Venue: Henry Wood Hall, London, England
Length: 4 Minutes 3 Secs.
Notes: Arranged: Stephen Hough
5.
Valse Enigmatique no 1 by Stephen Hough
Performer:
Stephen Hough (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: England
Date of Recording: 01/2001
Venue: Henry Wood Hall, London, England
Length: 2 Minutes 20 Secs.
6.
Valse Enigmatique no 2 by Stephen Hough
Performer:
Stephen Hough (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: England
Date of Recording: 01/2001
Venue: Henry Wood Hall, London, England
Length: 2 Minutes 20 Secs.
7.
Poems (2) in Homage to Fauré by Stephen Reynolds
Performer:
Stephen Hough (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1980s; England
Date of Recording: 01/2001
Venue: Henry Wood Hall, London, England
Length: 7 Minutes 41 Secs.
8.
Serious Dances (3) for Piano, Op. 51: no 2 in D flat major by York Bowen
Performer:
Stephen Hough (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: by 1919; England
Date of Recording: 09/1997
Venue: St. George's, Brandon Hill, Bristol
Length: 3 Minutes 22 Secs.
9.
The Way to Polden "An Ambling Tune", Op. 76 by York Bowen
Performer:
Stephen Hough (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: by 1925; England
Date of Recording: 01/2001
Venue: Henry Wood Hall, London, England
Length: 3 Minutes 33 Secs.
10.
Hour Glass, H 148: no 2, Dew Fairy by Frank Bridge
Performer:
Stephen Hough (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1919-1920; England
Date of Recording: 01/2001
Venue: Henry Wood Hall, London, England
Length: 2 Minutes 43 Secs.
11.
Lyrics (3) for Piano, H 161: no 1, Heart's Ease by Frank Bridge
Performer:
Stephen Hough (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1921; England
Date of Recording: 01/2001
Venue: Henry Wood Hall, London, England
Length: 1 Minutes 52 Secs.
12.
Studies (Study-Variations) (6) for Piano, Op. 56 by Kenneth Leighton
Performer:
Stephen Hough (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1969; England
Date of Recording: 01/2001
Venue: Henry Wood Hall, London, England
Length: 13 Minutes 38 Secs.
13.
Pieces (3) for Piano, Op. 20 by York Bowen
Performer:
Stephen Hough (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: England
Date of Recording: 01/2001
Venue: Henry Wood Hall, London, England
Length: 6 Minutes 11 Secs.
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