Performer: Stephen Hough
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Hyperion
Catalogue: CDA68176
Release: 2018
Size: 1.25 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
01. Hough: Radetzky Waltz
02. Love: Das Alte Lied (from The Third Man)
Isserlis: Memories of Childhood, Op. 11
03. II. In the Steppes
Minkus: Don Quixote
04. Extract. Kitri’s variation
05. Extract. Dulcinea’s variation
06. Solovyev-Sedoy: Moscow Nights
Liszt: Transcendental Studies, S139 Nos. 1-12
07. XI. Harmonies du soir
08. X. Étude in F minor
Albéniz: España ‘6 hojas de album’, Op 165
09. V. Capricho Catalan
10. Ponce: Intermezzo No. 1
Dohnányi: Four Rhapsodies, Op. 11
11. No 3 in C major. Vivace
Sibelius: Five Pieces, Op. 75 ‘The Trees’
12. V. Kuusi ‘The spruce’
Seymer: Sommarcroquiser, Op. 11
13. III. Solöga ‘Sun-eye’
Chaminade: Suite de piano
14. No 3 ‘Scarf dance’. Pas des écharpes
15. Hough: Niccolo’s Waltz
16. Hough: Osmanthus Romp
17. Hough: Osmanthus Reverie
18. Coates: By the Sleepy Lagoon
19. Tate: Somewhere a voice is calling
20. anon.: Matilda’s Rhumba
21. Hough: Iver-song ‘Lullaby’
Dvořák: Humoresques, Op. 101
22. No 7 in G flat major. Poco lento e grazioso
Dvořák: Gypsy Melodies, Op. 55 (B104)
23. IV. Songs my mother taught me
24. Elgar: Salut d’amour, Op. 12
25. anon.: Blow the wind southerly
26. Hough: Lullaby
Mompou: Scenes d’enfants
27. V. Jeunes filles au jardin
British-Australian pianist Stephen Hough has been known for solid performances of mainstream repertory and to a degree for compositions of his own. He has championed a few lesser-known composers, and here he tries something completely different: a set of largely unknown miniatures, some of which are his own. They are dreamlike enough in that they are sequenced to evoke a set of images, and to avoid big strokes that break the mood. In itself, that’s nothing you might not hear on a dozen crossover albums on Classic FM, but in Hough’s hands the effect is unique and entrancing. For one thing, the program is personal; he explains in his own notes his connections to some of these works. For another, his transcriptions, arrangements, and original compositions are all carefully measured to contribute to the overall effect. They are often playful in mood, putting, for example, new rhythmic twists on familiar pieces (sample Matilda’s Rhumba) that set them in contrast to the intensely nostalgic mood of pieces like Vasily Solovyov-Sedoy’s Moscow Nights, a Soviet-era popular song transcribed for piano. And again, although these pieces aren’t technically difficult for the most part, the way Hough controls them all and directs them toward a common goal is not easily accomplished. In a way, Stephen Hough’s Dream Album is a throwback: a pianist of a hundred years ago might have combined existing miniatures with new transcriptions and arrangements in this way. But it’s a throwback of the best kind; the sheer appeal of programs like this was lost under the weight of modernist ambitions. And it includes the crucial element of freshness: Hough’s own contributions are not merely imitations of older music but reinterpretations of it. This is one of the loveliest release you’re likely to hear this year, and it’s backed by Hyperion’s usual fine sound from the Wyastone Estate concert hall.