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

Information

Composer: Alexander Scriabin; Leoš Janáček

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

Stephen Hough, piano

Date: 2015

Label: Hyperion

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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 Rucker

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Alexander Scriabin (6 January 1872 – 27 April 1915) was a Russian composer and pianist, renowned for his innovative contributions to classical music. He studied at the Moscow Conservatory under Anton Arensky, Sergei Taneyev and Vasily Safonov. Scriabin composed almost exclusively for solo piano and for orchestra. Initially influenced by Romanticism, his style evolved into more abstract and mystical realms, incorporating complex harmonies and unconventional scales. His most famous compositions include piano works like Etudes, Preludes, and Sonatas, as well as his symphonic work Prometheus: The Poem of Fire. 

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Leoš Janáček (3 July 1854 – 12 August 1928) was a Czech composer, one of the most important exponents of musical nationalism of the 20th century. He studied at the Prague, Leipzig, and Vienna conservatories. His earlier works was influenced by contemporaries such as Dvořák, but later he began to incorporate his studies of national folk music and language to create a highly original synthesis. Janáček's later works, which are his most celebrated, include operas Káťa Kabanová and The Cunning Little Vixen, the Sinfonietta, the Glagolitic Mass, the rhapsody Taras Bulba, two string quartets, and other chamber works.

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Stephen Hough (born 22 November 1961) is a British-born classical pianist, composer and writer. He studied at Chetham's School of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music, and also holds a master's degree from the Juilliard School. A prominent soloist, he is also a composer and transcriber, and often includes his own works in his recitals. Hough has recorded more than 60 albums, and is known for championing lesser-known composers. As a teacher, he is a visiting professor of piano at the Royal Academy of Music, and the International Chair of Piano Studies at the Royal Northern College of Music.

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