Gramophone Magazine
March 2025
Editor's Choice

Stephen Hough (piano), The Hallé, Mark Elder

Polymath Sir Stephen Hough has a growing reputation as a composer of chamber, choral and, above all, solo piano music, with four sonatas and a constellation of dazzling arrangements to his name.

This album presents the premiere recording of his first piano concerto, recorded by the pianist with The Halle under Sir Mark Elder.

Its subtitle 'The world of yesrday' deliberately places the work in a broader context of the pianist-virtuosi of yesteryear who composed and performed their own piano concertos as they toured the world.

Federico Mompou: Musica callada (CDA68362):

"Hough is the ideal guide......his performance is one of perfectly judged understatement."

BBC Music Magazine.

Franz Schubert: Piano Sonatas (CDA68370).

'What a joy it is to bask in Stephen Hough's musicianship' - The Sunday Times

"In all three works, the richness of Hough’s ideas and their working out handsomely repays repeated listening. Now, will some enterprising director please have Hough write a film score?" - Gramophone Magazine, March 2025