MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

REVIEW


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 

alternatively
CD: MDT

Fryderyk CHOPIN (1810-1849)
Late Masterpieces
Barcarolle in F sharp major, Op 60 (1846) [8:30]
Mazurka in F minor, Op 63 No 2 (1846-47) [1:42]
Mazurka in A minor, Op 67 No 4 (1846-47) [2:46]
Mazurka in C sharp minor, Op 63 No 3 (1846-47) [2:03]
Mazurka in F minor, Op 68 No 4 (1846-47) [1:40]
Polonaise-Fantasy in A flat major, Op 61  [13:40]
Nocturne in B major, Op 62 No 1 (1846) [6:44]
Nocturne in E major, Op 62 No 2 (1846)  [5:47]
Piano Sonata No 3 in B minor, Op 58 (1844) [25:50]
Berceuse in D flat major, Op 57 (1843) [4:10]
Stephen Hough (piano)
rec. May 2009, St George’s, Brandon Hill, Bristol
HYPERION CDA67764 [73:08]
Sound Samples

Experience Classicsonline


Stephen Hough’s Chopin is highly persuasive. It’s not heaven-storming, but nor is it cool. It manages to project this carefully chosen ‘late’ selection with thoughtful intelligence and with tonal allure. But, again, it’s not beauty for beauty’s sake - it’s art for art’s sake. There may be the occasional quibble over tempo decisions, or over a sense of under-projection, but these are localised decisions and in general one can listen knowing that Hough’s bearing is devoted wholly toward the music-making, that his is an agency of refined control.
 
I would not dissent if perhaps auditors found that some of the more rich early chordal passages in the Barcarolle could be played more passionately. But we find as the music progresses that Hough ensures that the variousness of mood and metre and texture are well accounted for, that his tone is rich, that he knows when to hold back and when to allow a sense of flow to course through the music, to allow it to swim freely, unmediated by regularity. This is not to imply excessive freedom. Equally when one turns to the two selected Nocturnes one finds elegance of phrasing, evenness of trills, and a truly poetic spirit. Again, one might quibble with the initial tempo of the E major, but it does quicken, and the results are still laudable.
 
There are similar qualities audible in the Polonaise-Fantasy in A flat major. Unexaggerated and controlled, clear sighted, acute in his use (or abjuring) of the pedal, he again demonstrates that his is a view unchained by either convention or tradition. It is personal but central Chopin playing. He brings gentle wit to bear to the A minor Mazurka; charming little pauses, a bright ethos, like a glass held up to sunlight.
 
In the more sustained challenges of the B minor sonata he proves redoubtable. His measured Maestoso, the glittering scherzo, the refulgent but not overblown lyricism of the Largo all point to a performer of self contained assurance and communicative spirit. If one senses that there is an element in this music-making of projecting cautiously, then I think I would disagree. Hough’s aesthetic here is not toward the impulsive but it is toward impulse; he doesn’t embrace the volatile but he is alive; he doesn’t cultivate expressive latitude but does employ pervasive rubati; he is not unduly rhapsodic but he is lyrical. It’s, on its own terms, cogent, and logical - without being predictable or mathematical.
 
This is a fine recording, well engineered, and made at St George’s, Brandon Hill, Bristol. Hough has written his own booklet notes, including a whimsical explanation for the cover artwork. His playing is artful and sympathetic, avoiding excess and celebrating instead measured lyricism.
 
Jonathan Woolf  

 

 

 

 


 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools






Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.