Composer: Frédéric François Chopin
Performer: Stephen Hough
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Hyperion
Catalogue: CDA67456
Release: 2004
Size: 515 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
01. Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23
02. Scherzo No. 1 in B minor, Op. 20
03. Ballade No. 2 in F major, Op. 38
04. Scherzo No. 2 in B flat minor, Op. 31
05. Ballade No. 3 in A flat major, Op. 47
06. Scherzo No. 3 in C sharp minor, Op. 39
07. Ballade No. 4 in F minor, Op. 52
08. Scherzo No. 4 in E major, Op. 54
Here is some of the finest piano music to have come out of the nineteenth century. Chopins Ballades and Scherzos are individual creations of extraordinary expressive range and daring originality; they are among the most taxing works of the piano repertoire, as much for their interpretative challenges as their formidable technical ones. This recording finds Stephen Hough on top form. He has performed these works in concert for many years, and with his dazzling pianism, penetrating intellect, beauty of sound and clarity of line, he is superbly equipped for this music. Unusually, Hough alternates the Ballades and Scherzos, as he feels that this sequence gives us a closer sense of continuous and unfolding musical biography, and that by dispensing with the cycle format the listener is enabled to hear each piece as an individual entityas eight startlingly original and unique works. A truly memorable disc, one surely set to become a top recommendation.
Stephen Hough is surely the greatest living English pianist and certainly one of the greatest living pianists. Listen to his tremendous 2003 recording of Chopin’s Ballades and Scherzos. His technique is impeccably virtuosic, but never facile. His tone is deep, rich, and full, beautiful even at its loudest and sonorous even at its quietest. His tempos are superbly judged and always fresh. His interpretations are distinctive, even individualistic, but never eccentric and always compelling. His sequence of the Ballades and Scherzos in chronological alternation forces the listener to hear each work both as unique and as part of a living musical biography. Hyperion’s sound is lucid and warm, detailed and resonant, lush and immediate, and in every way as good as digital sound gets. Hough is certainly the greatest living English pianist and surely one of the greatest living pianists, and this is one of the greatest Chopin recitals ever recorded.