Saint-Saens - The Complete Piano Concertos - Stephen Hough

Music : Classical : Lossless



Saint-Saens: The Complete works for piano & orchestra
Performed by Stephen Hough and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Conducted by Sakari Oramo

Release Date: 10/09/2001
Label: HYPERION UK




The complete Saint-Saens Piano Concertos with pianist Stephen Hough, released on the Hyperion label in 2001, was chosen as “Gold Disc” at the 2008 Gramophone Awards – the best of the 30 Records of the Year selected since the awards were launched by Gramophone magazine in 1978.

Do you think this is the best classical recording of the last 30 years? Judge for yourself.

This two-disc set of the complete works for piano and orchestra is a splendid introduction to a significant aspect of the composer's oeuvre. Including the five piano concertos, the set enables the listener to trace the composer's development in this genre, from the quintessentially Romantic "Concerto No. 1" through the many intriguing idiosyncrasies and structural metamorphoses of the subsequent concertos, to the seductively atmospheric "Concerto No. 5" ("Egyptian") and admirable synthesis of exuberant energy, uninhibited expressiveness, elegantly stylized exoticism, and effervescent virtuosity.

With his faultless technique, artistic sophistication, and graceful yet powerful pianism, soloist Stephen Hough is the perfect interpreter of these concertos, masterfully following the composer's trajectory from the relatively unproblematic Romanticism of the earlier concertos to the subjectivity and refined esotericism of the later works.

In addition to purely technical challenges, which reflect the composer's stupendous mastery of the keyboard, Saint-Saens' concertos require extraordinary attention to subtle shifts of color and tonal quality. In other words, if "brilliance" is a fundamental quality of this music, it is up to the pianist to differentiate between the numerous shades of brilliance in accordance with the composer's quicksilver imagination and swift flow of ideas.

Hough finds superb accompaniment in the precise and richly expressive playing of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Sakari Oramo. The set also includes four shorter works: the delicately charming "Wedding Cake Valse-Caprice," Op. 76, the nostalgic and thoughtful "Rapsodie d'Auvergne," the brilliantly lyrical Allegro appassionato, and the opulently exotic fantasy "Africa."

In this vast, luminous, vibrant panorama of the great French composer's oeuvre for piano and orchestra, listeners will find exceptional guides in Stephen Hough and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.


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