VIDA BREVE - Stephen Hough

‘To call this a concept album would be to diminish its power and timeliness. It is both a meditation on the fragility of life and a Bergmanesque game of chess with Death, for which Hough has laid out his pieces and pawns in a masterstroke of programming … there is a poised and noble feel to Hough’s Chopin, subtly embellished as it is with effortless rubatos. Listen to the Trio section of the Scherzo for a masterclass in unselfconscious artistry. Or marvel at the natural flowing tempo for the Funeral March, supporting a cinematographic contrast of ever more invasive death knells and subdued mourning … two of Hough’s own arrangements, of a Korean traditional song and of Gounod/Bach, are at once transcendental and defiant: checkmate Death’ (Gramophone)

1
Chaconne (Movement 5 of Partita No 2 in D minor, BWV1004)[15'10] Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), arr. Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924)

Piano Sonata No 2 in B flat minor Op 35[23'25] Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)
2
Grave – Doppio movimento[7'29]
3
Scherzo[6'37]
4
Marche funèbre[7'43]
5
Presto[1'36]
6
Funérailles (No 7 of Harmonies poétiques et religieuses, S173)[11'11] Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
7
Bagatelle sans tonalité S216a[3'06] Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
8
Kammer-Fantasie über Carmen BV284[8'23] Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924)
9
Piano Sonata No 4 'Vida breve'[9'30] Stephen Hough (b1961)
10
Arirang[1'49]Anonymous - traditional, arr. Stephen Hough (b1961)
11
Méditation sur le premier prélude de piano de J S Bach 'Ave Maria'[5'29] Charles Gounod (1818-1893), arr. Stephen Hough (b1961)

Piano Sonatas by Chopin (No 2) and Hough (No 4) are the twin peaks of a typically stimulating recital which—as always from Stephen Hough—spans centuries and styles with assurance. How often do Liszt’s Funérailles and Gounod’s Ave Maria share the same programme? Life is nothing if not unpredictable.