Frederic Chopin Stephen Hough - Chopin Four Ballades Four Scherzos (8 tracks) +Album Reviews

Chopin:The Poet of the Piano

D. A Wend | Buffalo Grove, IL USA | 04/15/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Ballades and Scherzos of Chopin are works of his maturity as a composer and were composed around the same time. This has led Stephan Hough to have these works recorded in an unusual sequence with a Ballade followed by a Scherzo, so the First Ballade is followed by the First Scherzo and the pattern repeats. This was done to present these works in a chronology that shows us their development. It also presents a welcome contrast rather than hearing each genre presented in order. The Ballades and Scherzos were created as individual works, not as a part of larger work like the Etudes or Preludes, so it is highly interesting to hear them in this order. Stephan Hough plays Chopin with great feeling and restraint: he does not rush and does not bring off the more bravura passages with bombast. Even if you already have recordings of the Ballades and Scherzos, in entirety or part, this is a recording of great interest and will make you hear these works anew. The recording is excellent and the notes by Bryce Morrison are insightful and well written."

ELEGANCE

GEORGE RANNIE | DENVER, COLORADO United States | 04/19/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Next to the Nocturnes, the Ballades and the Scherzos are my favorite works by Chopin. I own many fine recordings of both works. Stephen Hough's recording of the Ballades and Scherzos has become, to me, "Dessert Island" material. He plays the works with sublime elegance and poetry. There is no shortage of bravura; however, he plays the works with much introspection. I "felt the music" in my soul. Bravo Mr. Hough!

The recording is wonderful. The Hyperion lable proves once again why it is considered the "Rolls Royce" of labels."

Disappointing, salonish performances

Richard Steiger | Murray, KY USA | 04/27/2005

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I've enjoyed many of Stephen Hough's performances in the past, particularly his delightful "Albums," his Hummel and his Mendelssohn. But in this case, he reduces some of Chopin's greatest music to salon proportions. Virtually every work here is ruined by incessant toying with phrasing and tempo and the disclosing of nonexistent inner voices. At one point in the first scherzo he suddenly begins playing at half tempo! Nor is his technique impressive. The octaves in the third scherzo, for example, are clumsy. To boot, the sound on this cd is cold and remote, far below Hyperion's usual standards. I'm sure Hough will produce much better discs than this careless production in the future. But avoid this disc and stick with Moravec and Perahia in the Ballades and Rubinstein and Richer in the scerzi."

Chopin that does not quite escape the salon

David H. Spence | Houston, TX | 03/12/2005

(2 out of 5 stars)

"With recorded sound that tends to crunch at fortes or with heavy chords in the bass, thin highs (I suspect that the problem is two thirds to do with the modern Steinway that Hough is playing on as much as anything), this new disc of scherzi and ballades is out of competition with the best recordings of these pieces, and competition is fierce, and partly why I can not rate it above two stars. Hough's playing, while often brilliant (i.e., fine close to the impossible close to the F Minor Ballade), is riddled by too many dovetailings, backphrasings, and other mannerisms, interpretative devices that distort rhythm and form, to be taken seriously as anything belonging to the front rank of Chopin playing, yet from a recognizably serious, conscientious artist. He seems to bring his disc to a little more of a compelling close with the E Major Scherzo, but even the middle section in C-sharp minor is played all a little too sotto voce to get any point across, and fussiness continues into the closing section. The last new disc of the Scherzi I have heard is the Li Yundi on DGG. Barring the mildest of shortcomings interpretatively, this is a disc that shows an astoundingly quickly developing artistry and maturity that leaves his also new compatriot on the 'yellow label' in the dust, and thus gets just about my highest recommendation - as being able to go toe-to-toe with the most respected Chopin interpreters of the recent past or even the past generation - something that may have not been quite achieved on his first Chopin disc for DGG."

Breathtaking Chopin

Robert L. Berkowitz | Natick, MA United States | 03/01/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This recording captivated me from beginning to end. I have numerous recordings of the Chopin Ballades and Scherzos in my collection and have written several reviews on this website (recordings by Claudio Arrau, Bella Davidovich, Freddy Kempf, Yundi Li, Ivo Pogorelich, Abbey Simon and Krystian Zimerman), and I was initially put off from this recording by those reviews that suggested Hough never seems to leave the parlor. I found these performances to be original and stunning, and easily move to the top region of my list of recordings of these pieces. They have just enough individual elements to show that Hough has his own point of view, but one never feels these elements obscure the broader musical line. I found some of his playing downright breathtaking.

In the same way that Hough proved to be an individual voice with his recording of the Liszt Sonata (also reviewed on this website), he has brought a refreshing and entirely welcome perspective to these wonderful pieces. I also enjoyed listening to these pieces programmed in the unusual order. He accomplished just what he intended -- to make each of these pieces stand out as the distinctive masterpieces they truly are. They are not part of a shared opus number -- they deserve to be heard on their own.

I highly recommend this disc."

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CD Details

CD Reviews

	Frederic Chopin, Stephen Hough Chopin: Four Ballades & Four Scherzos Genre: Classical Track Listings (8) - Disc #1 Ballade No 1 In G Minor Op 23 Scherzo No 1 In B Minor Op 20 Ballade No 2 In A Minor Op 38 Scherzo No 2 In B Flat Minor Op 31 Ballade No 3 In A Flat Major Op 47 Scherzo No 3 In C Sharp Minor Op 39 Ballade No 4 In F Minor Op 52 Scherzo No 4 In E Major Op 54
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