Utwory na płycie:

• Rawsthorne: Bagatelles - #1 Allegro
• Rawsthorne: Bagatelles - #2 Allegretto
• Rawsthorne: Bagatelles - #3 Presto Non Assai
• Rawsthorne: Bagatelles - #4 Lento
• Reynolds: 2 Poems In Homage To Delius - #1 Rustic Idyll
• Reynolds: 2 Poems In Homage To Delius - #2 Serenade & Dance Of Spring
• Hough: Valse Enigmatique #1
• Hough: Valse Enigmatique #2
• Elgar: In Smyrna
• Reynolds: 2 Poems In Homage To Fauré - #1 Chanson D'Automne
• Reynolds: 2 Poems In Homage To Fauré - #2 Impromptu: Le Printemps
• Bantock/Hough: Song To The Seals
• Bowen: Reverie D'Amour, Op. 20/2
• Bowen: Serious Dance, Op. 51/2
• Bowen: The Way To Polden, Op. 76, 'An Ambling Tune'
• Bridge: The Dew Fairy
• Bridge: Heart's Ease
• Leighton: 6 Studies, Op. 56, 'Study Variations' - #1 Adagio Molto
• Leighton: 6 Studies, Op. 56, 'Study Variations' - #2 Allegro Molto & Secco, Molto Ritmico
• Leighton: 6 Studies, Op. 56, 'Study Variations' - #3 Adagio Molto, Mysterioso Ma Molto Espressivo
• Leighton: 6 Studies, Op. 56, 'Study Variations' - #4 Allegro Leggiero & Capriccioso
• Leighton: 6 Studies, Op. 56, 'Study Variations' - #5 Allegro Molto, Nervoso
• Leighton: 6 Studies, Op. 56, 'Study Variations' - #6 Presto Con Bravura

This disc, which is very close to Stephen Hough's heart, should be thought of as an addition to his very successful series of 'Piano Albums'. In fact this recital started off with material left over from his New Piano Album (CDA67043).

The disc is a tribute to the English school of piano composition mostly a 20th-century phenomenon, and the material is very much a personal selection rather than an encyclopaedic overview. The mood is predominantly lyrical and nostalgic (perhaps very English phenomena), and most of the pieces are very much the kind Stephen might present as encores. There is some serious 'meat' though in the form of Leighton's Study Variations. These are a major addition to the piano repertoire and add to the growing recognition, some fourteen years after his death, that in Kenneth Leighton we have a major composer indeed.



'Another winner from the ever-imaginative Stephen Hough. In all these pieces Hough's magic is presented in full, clear Hyperion sound' (Gramophone)

'Powerful, sympathetic and beautifully recorded, and his fans everywhere will be thrilled' (BBC Music Magazine)

'Hough's performances are magical – scintillating, refined, sensuous in the smaller works, commanding and powerful in Rawsthorne and Leighton. I hope this superb pianist records many more recitals of British music' (American Record Guide)

'Hough’s pianism is a constant source of wonder – every chord and phrase perfectly judged' (Classic FM Magazine)

'scrupulous, full ... bodied, and technically impeccable performances ... He revels in the sensuous harmonic felicities that color Stephen Reynolds' pastiches and makes an easy task of York Bowen’s fustian textures (Classics Today.com)

'these performances can be regarded as definitive … A CD of revealing personal choices of a master pianist, and one that reveals yet more very worthy British music … Strongly recommended' (Fanfare, USA)

'Exquisite presentation ... [Hough] is a pianist of such refinement and impeccable technique that he makes everything he plays compellingly interesting ... [the Leighton Studies] have a clear awareness of other 20th -century musical styles, including jazz, and there is an element of virtuosity that Hough, of course, delivers brilliantly' (The Guardian)

'(Hough) plays with an astonishing command, great insight and some terrific finesse, in a performance that ranges from the elegant and sensitive to the vigorous and exhilarating' (Hi-Fi News and Record Review)

'Hough plays [Leighton] superbly, with marvellous tonal control in the rugged and spiky passages and also in the quiet harmonic episodes that glow with fierce intensity … enjoyable, excellently performed and beautifully engineered CD' (International Piano)

'I’ve long admired the unfailingly beautiful, carefully honed, paradoxically rich but lean textures and sonorities Stephen Hough cultivates … a style in which patient, sustained utterance came to seem immediate, fervent and idealistic ... Crystal-sharp sound and superb performances; transcendental technique in the service of music that at least sets itself transcendental goals' (Pianist)

'Hough is one of world’s grandest piano performers, imaginative, graceful, powerful, able to dazzle with both his technique and his mind … a haunting and complex collection' (Philadelphia Post)

'This is a treat for lovers of the piano … Fascinating stuff' (Manchester Evening News)

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Recording details: Various dates; Various recording venues; Produced by Andrew Keener; Engineered by Mike Hatch; Release date: March 2002;