Sir Stephen Hough’s signature style enamors a New York audience

United States Various: Sir Stephen Hough (piano), Viano Quartet (Lucy Wang, Hao Zhou [violins], Aiden Kane [viola], Tate Zawadiuk [cello]). David Geffen Hall, Lincoln Center, New York, 24.11.2024. (DS)

Chopin – Nocturne in E-flat major, Op.9, No.2; Nocturne in F-sharp major, Op.15, No.2; Scherzo No.2 in B-flat minor, Op.31
Stephen Hough – Les Noces Rouges (piano quintet)
Cécile Chaminade – ‘Automne’ from Six études de concert for piano, Op.35, No.2; ‘Autrefois’ from Six pièces humoristiques for piano, Op.87, No.4; Les Sylvains for piano, Op.60
Liszt – Sonata in B minor, S.178

Lingering impressions are the mark of a great performance. We were left with a hearty collection after Sir Stephen Hough’s appearance at the Chamber Music Society’s guest artist concert at Lincoln Center. Recently knighted for his contributions to the arts, Hough delighted a packed hall with poignant signature phrasings and keen musings on Chopin, Liszt and Chaminade, as well as a piano quintet he had composed for the occasion.

Hough was an ideal guest to a host-country audience. Showing true congeniality and appreciation of American cultural history, his piano quintet, Les Noces Rouges, was based upon a dark and fascinating interlude from the novel My Antonia by the Great Plains writer, Willa Cather. Hough performed along with the youthful and passionately energetic Viano Quartet, who proved to be an excellent match for him in spirit and intrepid approach.

Over the course of three movements, the story of a winter wedding celebration ending in death by hungry wolves unfolded, and Hough clearly relished the compositional possibilities of emotional contrast and plot momentum. When he introduced the work with a few words, he remarked with a smile, ‘It does not have a happy end’.

The piece opens with a pleasing theme for viola and cello, but sudden dissonant chordal strikes punctuate the melody. This contrasting dynamic set the precedent for a structure that permeated the work: comforting lyricism combined with easy folk balladry that brutally, purposely clashed with ominous gestures and rousing attacks. Hough cleverly hints at an underlining, tongue-in-cheek vein with quick exchanges between moody passages as well strategically placed string techniques ranging from whipping ricochet to icy glissandos.

However, the heart of the evening was in the nineteenth-century works that he beautifully threaded together with his signature style, always approaching openings with a hushed deliberate humility that inevitably blossomed into thematic flourishes of personal expression.

The three Chopin works fell together gracefully over a heart-wrenchingly fluent dialogue he presented between them, and Liszt’s Sonata in B minor was enrapturing throughout its 30-minute length. The performance exhibited Hough’s gestural style of playing not only the keys but sculpting the air that hovers above. His mastery of the high registers of the keyboard proved unmatched and ideally purposed for Liszt’s broad compositional landscape.

Midway through the evening, Hough groomed three miniature yet outstanding works by lesser-known composer Cécile Chaminade (though she was sought after in her own lifetime) into canonic artistic creations that he presented with varied levels of joyful splendor and framed with singular figurative design. Each was a treasure in its own right.

Undoubtedly, even a turn of ‘Chopsticks’ could emerge heavenly and entrancing under Hough’s touch. This was proven by his medley of songs from Mary Poppins as the encore – divine, artful and humorous. I could still hear concertgoers well beyond the exit doors humming the Broadway tunes he had turned into Chopin-cum-Ivesian delights. This was not simply a night of music but very much a night of Sir Stephen Hough.

Daniele Sahr