Misty evocations and raw passion from Stephen Hough

By Mark Thomas, 06 April 2018

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“the most feather-like of touches that oozed quality”

Reviewed at Royal Festival Hall, London on 5 April 2018

Debussy, Suite bergamasque: Clair de lune

Debussy, Images, Set 2

Schumann, Fantasie in C major, Op.17

Debussy, Préludes, Bk 2 no. 7: La Terrasse des audiences du clair de lune

Debussy, Images, Set 1

Beethoven, Piano Sonata no. 23 in F minor "Appassionata", Op.57

Sir Stephen Hough, Piano

Stephen Hough makes a convincing case for Rachmaninov 1 with the RSNO

Simon Thompson, 24th April

On a return visit to the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, John Wilson shapes A London Symphony with melancholy sweep.

****1

Hindoyan and Hough bring a new dream team to Liverpool

Glyn Mon Hughes, 27th November

Rachmaninov’s First Piano Concerto comes alive as Stephen Hough joins Domingo Hindoyan and the RLPO in an explosive performance of this dramatic work.

*****

Majestic Brahms from Sir Stephen Hough and Elim Chan in Sydney

Zoltán Szabó, 17th May

Elim Chan expertly conducts the SSO through a varied programme featuring an Australian fanfare, Russian ballet music and Brahms' First Piano Concerto with Sir Stephen Hough.

****1

A knight-errant on the road: Sir Stephen Hough at the Barbican

Christopher Woodley, 4th December

Sir Stephen Hough continues his advocacy of Chaminade with three of her miniatures and gives passionate performances of Schumann' and Chopin.

****1

Stephen Hough: old-school virtuosity without the showmanship

Phil Parker, 29th November

Mary Poppins would surely have a word for Sir Stephen Hough’s Crucible Playhouse recital... and she’d be right.

****1

Sir Mark Elder and the CBSO challenge expectations

Simon Cummings, 16th October

Together with soloist Sir Stephen Hough, the CBSO and Sir Mark Elder reinvent Brahms’ First Piano Concerto, present the complex non-narrative of Janáček The Fiddler's Child and suggest real happiness in Shostakovich’s Sixth Symphony.

****1

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Mark Thomas

A lifelong devotee of classical music, Mark caught the bug after listening to The Planets, The Rite of Spring and Beethoven’s Fifth when he was knee-high to a grasshopper. He has degrees in non-musical subjects and currently works as a Chartered Governance Professional, but these have proved to be mere distractions from the wonders of sonatas, concertos and symphonies. He has been reviewing for Bachtrack since 2016, plays viola and violin (very shakily) and used to sing a bit (even more shakily).