STEPHEN HOUGH RECORDS CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED NEW CHOPIN CD USING YAMAHA CFIIIS
Stephen Hough’s latest CD 'Chopin - The Complete Waltzes', recorded using a Yamaha CFIIIS concert grand piano, has received widespread critical acclaim and spectacular reviews from the UK’s national press (Five-star reviews in The Sunday Times, The Guardian, and The Daily Telegraph below) as well as being featured by BBC Music Magazine and selected as 'Classic FM CD of the Week'. It is currently Amazon UK’s best selling classical music recording.
Stephen Hough is widely regarded as one of the most important and distinctive pianists of his generation and has a unique affinity for the music of Chopin, whose music has always been a central part of his repertoire. In recognition of his multitude of achievements, he was awarded a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship in 2001, joining prominent scientists, writers and others who have made unique contributions to contemporary life. In 2009 Stephen Hough was nominated by The Economist and Intelligent Life magazines as one of 20 living polymaths, alongside Umberto Eco, Noam Chomsky and Michael Ignatieff. In the same year, he played all of the works for piano and orchestra of Tchaikovsky over four BBC Proms as well as becoming the first British instrumentalist to give a solo recital on the main stage of Carnegie Hall in nearly 20 years. In 2011/12, Stephen Hough is Wigmore Hall’s Artist in Residence and will release a recording of the Liszt and the Grieg Concertos.
Kumi Liley, Manager of Yamaha Artist Services Europe (London) stated, “Yamaha pianos are now becoming an increasingly popular feature on the world’s concert platforms and we are very proud and delighted that this magnificent CD captures the performance of one of the world's most significant pianists, using a Yamaha CFIIIS concert grand piano.”
Stephen Hough comments, "This Yamaha CFIIIS was a dream on which to record. These Waltzes are intimate salon pieces and I found that every nuance could be transferred directly from my imagination on to the keyboard. In particular there was a transparency to the sound which allowed Chopin’s textures clarity and colour.
Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)
The Complete Waltzes
Stephen Hough (piano)
Hyperion Records CDA 67849
Even such famous pieces as the E flat major and D flat major (the so-called “Minute Waltz”) sound fresh-minted by his mercurial hands. His delicious lilt and rubato always seem perfectly judged, and he sweeps us off our feet with the twinkle-fingered brilliance of his dashing F major waltz. More important, he ensures that the minor-key numbers “sing” as well as dance, revealing sensual depths in the music that are needed as respite from the exhilarating breathlessness of the bright, glittering waltzes. Each piece is exquisitely chiselled, sculpted and polished, but Hough never draws attention to technique for its own sake. He seems entirely possessed by the intoxicating spirit of the dance, heady with almost reckless sensory bravado […] a mesmerising collection.’ (5 stars, The Sunday Times)
'Hough's playing has such authority and panache, its balance between virtuosity and vividly communicated expression so finely judged, that every perfectly scaled moment is as intensely realised as every other. Few other pianists around today play Chopin with as much understanding and poised mastery as this' (5 stars, The Guardian)
'Launching his latest album with the earliest of waltzes to which Chopin gave an opus number, Stephen Hough sets a sparkling tone for what follows on this altogether brilliant disc … Hough is a pianist with all the elegance, wit and virtuosity required for these pieces, yet he also finds the deep vein of melancholy that runs through many of them' (5 stars, BBC Music Magazine)
'Every [Waltz] conveys the feeling of bodies in motion, skirts twirling, and hearts intertwined … You don’t just hear Hough’s fingers; you hear his soul … The Minute Waltz contains one of the best melting moments of all; I could feel my knees giving way … I knew I’d never get my shins kicked, or an ache in the heel: I was dancing with Chopin and one of the world’s top pianists' (The Times)
'Hough's decision to record the eight published waltzes in chronological order allows us to gain a feel for Chopin's glorious development in this genre … Essential listening' (The Observer)
'Chopin’s waltzes are salon pieces, but always more than salon pieces, and Hough brings an astonishing range of touch to them. All those sophisticated inner parts and harmonic shifts are brought out with the greatest insouciance and style' (5 stars, The Telegraph)
ENDS
Extra notes:
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 festivals such as Salzburg, Mostly Mozart, Aspen, Ravinia, Tanglewood, Blossom, Hollywood Bowl, Edinburgh, Aldeburgh and the BBC Proms, where he has made over 20 concerto appearances. Recent engagements include performances with the New York, Los Angeles and London Philharmonics, Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras, London Symphony, the Berlin Philharmonic in a worldwide televised performance with Sir Simon Rattle, and a US tour with the Russian National Orchestra led by Vladimir Jurowski.
