Alexander Scriabin; Leoš Janáček - Sonatas & Poems (Stephen Hough)

Information

Composer: Alexander Scriabin; Leoš Janáček

• (01) Scriabin - Piano Sonata No. 5, Op. 53
• (02-11) Janáček - On the overgrown path, JW VIII/17: Book 1
• (12) Scriabin - Poème in F sharp major, Op. 32 No. 1
• (13) Scriabin - Vers la flamme: poème, Op. 72
• (14-15) Janáček - Piano Sonata '1.X.1905, From the street'
• (16-17) Scriabin - Piano Sonata No. 4 in F sharp major, Op. 30

Stephen Hough, piano
Date: 2015
Label: Hyperion
http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA67895

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Review

Stephen Hough’s piano-playing always seems informed by a composer’s instincts and sensibilities, attributes immediately discernible in his new recording combining Scriabin with two major works of Janáček, a composer 18 years Scriabin’s senior, yet who outlived him by 13.

Out of this richly atmospheric performance of Book 1 of On an Overgrown Path, certain pieces emerge as almost cinematically graphic. One easily pictures eddies of autumn winds in ‘A blown-away leaf’ or hears the voices of children in ‘Come with us!’. The raw emotions of ‘Unutterable anguish!’ and the apprehension verging on fear of ‘The barn owl has not flown away’ are immediate and powerful. Within the scant 12 minutes of the Sonata 1.X.1905, a psychological drama of tragic import unfolds on what seems like an epic scale. The emotional nakedness and loving attention to detail recall the seminal Janáček recordings of Rudolf Firkušný.

The same probing, questing intelligence is brought to bear on the more conventionally virtuoso music of Scriabin. To music that all too often leaves one rudderless and gasping for air in wave after wave of opulently ambivalent harmony, Hough brings orientation and direction without sacrificing sensuality or mystical aura. He accomplishes this through an almost uncanny variety of touch, tone production and judicious pedalling. The result is a Fifth Sonata that, despite its audacious originality, suddenly seems not quite so distant from contemporaneous Debussy and Ravel. The irrepressible nervous energy animating the fast sections becomes, in the finale of the Fourth Sonata, both the means and the end. In lesser hands, Scriabin’s obsessive repetition of massive chords can seem like insensate piano abuse. Through shaping and dynamic gradation, Hough restores these characteristic figurations to their original shimmering vibrando effect, producing a sound at once musical and thrilling. Shape and direction are the operatives in Vers la flamme, creating an impact unlike any other recording I know.

Listening to dozens of new piano recordings each year, a sort of private rating system inevitably develops. For me, discs warranting the highest praise are those that persuasively introduce new music, that chart new interpretative territory for a work or that demonstrate something fresh and heretofore unrecognised in music long familiar. These are recordings that contribute significantly to common understanding and appreciation. Hough’s contribution in this release could scarcely be more generous.

-- Patrick Rucke, Gramophone

More reviews:
BBC Music Magazine  PERFORMANCE: ***** / RECORDING: *****
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2016/Jan/Scriabin_Janacek_CDA67895.htm
http://www.limelightmagazine.com.au/content/scriabin-jan%C3%A1%C4%8Dek-sonatas-and-poems-stephen-hough
https://www.audaud.com/scriabin-piano-sonata-no-5-piano-sonata-no-4-in-f-sharp-major-poeme-in-f-sharp-major-vers-la-flamme-poeme-janacek-on-the-overgrown-path-book-i-piano-sonata-1-from-the-street/
https://www.ft.com/content/3cb015e6-7b82-11e5-98fb-5a6d4728f74e
http://www.allmusic.com/album/scriabin-jan%C3%A1cek-songs-poems-mw0002888590
https://www.amazon.com/Scriabin-Piano-Sonatas-Janacek-Sonata/dp/B014S607HW

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Alexander Scriabin (6 January 1872 [O.S. 25 December 1871] – 27 April [O.S. 14 April] 1915) was a Russian composer and pianist. Scriabin was one of the most innovative and most controversial of early modern composers, and is considered by some to be the main Russian Symbolist composer. Independently of Arnold Schoenberg, Scriabin developed a substantially atonal and much more dissonant musical system. He was influenced by synesthesia, and associated colours with the various harmonic tones of his atonal scale. Scriabin had a major impact on the music world, and influenced composers such as Stravinsky and Prokofiev.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Scriabin

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Leoš Janáček (3 July 1854 – 12 August 1928) was a Czech composer, musical theorist, folklorist, publicist and teacher. He was inspired by Moravian and other Slavic folk music to create an original, modern musical style. Much of Janáček's work displays great originality and individuality. Janáček belongs to a wave of twentieth-century composers who sought greater realism and greater connection with everyday life, combined with a more all-encompassing use of musical resources. Janáček is considered one of the most important Czech composers, along with Antonín Dvořák and Bedřich Smetana.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo%C5%A1_Jan%C3%A1%C4%8Dek

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Stephen Hough (born 22 November 1961) is a British-born classical pianist, composer and writer. He has appeared as a soloist with major orchestras, as recitalist on the major stages, and as chamber musician with top musicians. He is also known for his various dazzling recordings of encore pieces and for championing lesser-known composers. His recordings (more than 50 of them) received multiple awards. As a composer, he has written over 30 published pieces, and often includes his own works in his recitals. As a writer, Hough has written about his homosexuality and its relationship with both his music-making and his religion.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Hough

http://www.stephenhough.com/

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