Friday July 8th 2011 Stephen Hough
Beethoven: Sonata Op. 27 No. 2 (Moonlight)
Hough: Sonata for Piano (Broken Branches)
Scriabin: Sonata No. 4
Scriabin Sonata No. 5
Liszt: Sonata in B minor
Strange sonatas is the theme behind this programme. ‘Sonata’ was originally a term used to denote a piece sounding’ rather than ‘singing’ –for instruments rather than voices. It has had a rich history from the single-movement forms of Scarlatti through the classical centrepoint of the Viennese classics to the outer boundaries of Boulez and Cage. For all its multiplicitythe term itself has kept meaning in its wordlessness and its seriousness: regardless of form is a statement – of unity if not of uniformity.
Beethoven: Sonata Op. 27 No. 2 (Moonlight)
Beethoven’s astonishing ‘Moonlight’ sonata is perhaps the most famous example of the genre in history. The first movement is an improvisation, a tuneless wash of colour with gentle triplets blurred into mystery through long pedals and bass textures. After a short, lilting minuet and trio, the C sharp minor arpeggios return in the final movement, but now with ferocity and velocity, and punching accents on the final beats of the bar. This movement shares with the later ‘Appassionata’ sonata Finale an unwillingness to let any light brighten the mood. It is turbulent without respite.
Hough: Sonata for Piano (Broken Branches)
Sonata for Piano (Broken Branches) is constructed of sixteen small, inconclusive sections,but I wanted a title which would pull these fragments together. The work is not a collection of album leaves - of saplings existing comfortably in their own space – but branches from a single tree. ‘Broken branches’ in three senses: fragments of fragility, related in theme but incomplete and damaged; an oblique tribute to Janacek's cycle ‘On an Overgrown Path’; and finally a spiritual dimension: ‘I am the vine, you are the branches. Cut off from me you can do nothing’, said Christ to his disciples in St. John’s Gospel. The climax of this Sonata is a section called ‘non credo’, based on material from the Credo of my ‘Missa Mirabilis’ which explores issues of doubt and despair in the context of the concrete affirmations of the Nicene Creed. The penultimate section, a wordless but metrically exact setting of the 6th century text ‘Crux Fidelis’, reveals another ‘branch’ – the wood of the Cross. The Sonata begins with a ‘Prelude (Autumn)’ and ends with a ‘Postlude (Spring)’. The music is identical in both except that the anguish of the former’s G sharp minor is blanched into G major at the end of the piece. Branches begin their lives anew in the Spring, and nothing is so broken that it cannot be healed.
Scriabin: Sonatas No. 4 and No. 5
I wanted to pair the 4th and 5th sonatas of Scriabin together, partly because I think they are the best of his piano music, and partly because the 5th grows out of its predecessor in a fascinating way. Few composers make me think of perfume as much as Scriabin, but what are bright floral or citrus notes in the 4th deepen into musk and civet in the 5th – which is surely one of the most brilliantly constructed works in the repertoire. I can think of no other example where chaos and madness are held together with so rigorous and intelligent a structure.
Liszt: Sonata in B minor
Usually the Liszt sonata appears in recital programmes as a piece of high romanticism and virtuosity; but hearing it after the high-octane Scriabin 5th gives us a chance perhaps to reassess it as a piece of deep nobility and grandeur – a symphony for the piano with monumental vision and scope.
© Stephen Hough 2011
STEPHEN HOUGH
With a singular artistic vision that transcends musical fashions and trends, Stephen Hough is widely regarded as one of the most important and distinctive pianists of his generation. In recognition of his achievements, he was awarded a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship in 2001, joining prominent scientists, writers and others who have made unique contributions to contemporary life.
Stephen Hough has appeared with most of the major European and American orchestras and plays recitals regularly in the major halls and concert series around the world. He is also a guest at major festivals including the BBC Proms, where he has made over 15 concerto appearances.
In 2009 Hough played recitals in the Royal Festival Hall as well as becoming the first British instrumentalist to give a solo recital on the main stage of Carnegie Hall in nearly 20 years. He also performed all of the works for piano and orchestra of Tchaikovsky over four BBC Proms and will return to the Chicago Symphony in 2010/11 to play the same Tchaikovsky cycle over six concerts.
An exclusive Hyperion recording artist, many of Stephen Hough’s catalogue of over 50 CDs have garnered international prizes, including the Deutsche Schallplattenpreis, Diapason d’or, Monde de la musique, several Grammy nominations, and eight Gramophone Magazine Awards, including ‘Record of the Year’ in 1996 and 2003, and the Gramophone ‘Gold Disc’ Award in 2008, which named his complete Saint-Saëns Piano Concertos as the best recording of the past 30 years. His 2005 live recording of the Rachmaninoff Piano Concertos became the fastest selling recording in Hyperion's history. His most recent releases are the Complete Works for Piano and Orchestra by Tchaikovsky with the Minnesota Orchestra led by Osmo Vänskä, and a Chopin recital: 'Late Masterpieces'.
Stephen Hough is also an avid writer and composer. In addition to scholarly and critically-acclaimed CD liner notes and articles for music publications, he has written for The Guardian, The Times, and was invited by the Telegraph Media Group in December 2008 to start a cultural blog. Hough has written extensively about theology and his book, The Bible as Prayer, was published by Continuum and Paulist Press in 2007. Earlier in 2007, Hough’s cello concerto 'The Loneliest Wilderness' was premiered by Steven Isserlis and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and two choral works - Mass of Innocence and Experience and Missa Mirabilis - were performed at London’s Westminster Abbey and Westminster Cathedral respectively. In January 2009, Hough’s trio, Was mit den Tränen geschieht, commissioned by members of the Berlin Philharmonic, received its world premiere at the Berlin Philharmonie. A string sextet, Requiem Aeternum: after Victoria, was commissioned by the National Gallery for their major autumn 2009 exhibition, The Sacred Made Real: Spanish Painting and Sculpture 1600-1700. Hough has also published numerous compositions with Josef Weinberger Ltd.
A resident of London, Stephen Hough is a visiting professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London and holds the International Chair of Piano Studies at his alma mater, the Royal Northern College in Manchester.