- Jubilee offer: spend £10 or more on any product sold by Amazon.co.uk on or before June 6 and you can buy The Diamond Jubilee A Classical Celebration Album for just £2.50 Here's how (terms and conditions apply)
Amazon.co.uk allows you to pay for your items in your local currency. Restrictions apply. Learn More. |
Special Offers and Product Promotions
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
Track Listings
| 1. Piano Concerto No 1 in E flat major S124 (FRANZ LISZT) |
| 2. Piano Concerto No 2 in A major S125 (FRANZ LISZT) |
| 3. Piano Concerto in A minor Op 16 (EDVARD GRIEG) |
Product Description
Review
I'm not sure that there exists a performance of either Liszt concerto more scupulously adherent to the composer's every indication of expression,articulation and dynamics.With these,as with the Grieg Concerto,it is not as though interesting interpretatons have been imposed upon them.Rather,one feels that the scores were so thorougly scutinized,understood and then imaginatively realized that they have yielded fresh riches.It may be tha the full measure of Andrew Litton's extraordinary talent as a conductor has yet to be taken.Stephen Hough's steady ascent to the summit of his profession exhibits equally supreme mastery of his instrument and the deep humanity from which it flowered. IRR OUTSTANDING --IRR,Nov'11
Does the world really need another recording of the Grieg piano concerto? The answer has to be an emphatic yes when the soloist is the barnstorming Stephen Hough, a pianist with the fascinating ability to take a venerable work, strip it of its patina and present it as though for the very first time. This is a wonderfully alert performance, mixing novel tempi with awesome technique and breathtaking, tingling tension. Hough's terrific reading of Liszt's first piano concerto at London's Royal Festival Hall in January got the bicentenary celebrations off to a flying start in the UK, and here we can enjoy it again, this time with the warm and generous Bergen Philharmonic under the meticulous Andrew Litton, coupled with a virile account of the majestic second concerto. Highly recommended. --The Observer,30/10/11
A pleasing and thought- provoking release. Performance ****(*) Recording **** --BBC Music Magazine,Christmas'11
With technique honed to a state of diamond-like brilliance,he gives us rapier-like cadenzas and glissandos that flash like summer lightning. EDITORS CHOICE --Gramophone,Jan'12
Three of the greatest piano concertos on one disc in superb performances, beautifully engineered sound and with a fact-filled booklet. What s not to like. ***** --Classic FM Magazine,Feb'12
Does the world really need another recording of the Grieg piano concerto? The answer has to be an emphatic yes when the soloist is the barnstorming Stephen Hough, a pianist with the fascinating ability to take a venerable work, strip it of its patina and present it as though for the very first time. This is a wonderfully alert performance, mixing novel tempi with awesome technique and breathtaking, tingling tension. Hough's terrific reading of Liszt's first piano concerto at London's Royal Festival Hall in January got the bicentenary celebrations off to a flying start in the UK, and here we can enjoy it again, this time with the warm and generous Bergen Philharmonic under the meticulous Andrew Litton, coupled with a virile account of the majestic second concerto. Highly recommended. --The Observer,30/10/11
A pleasing and thought- provoking release. Performance ****(*) Recording **** --BBC Music Magazine,Christmas'11
With technique honed to a state of diamond-like brilliance,he gives us rapier-like cadenzas and glissandos that flash like summer lightning. EDITORS CHOICE --Gramophone,Jan'12
Three of the greatest piano concertos on one disc in superb performances, beautifully engineered sound and with a fact-filled booklet. What s not to like. ***** --Classic FM Magazine,Feb'12
CD Description
A concerto album from Stephen Hough is always a significant event. For this new recording Stephen travelled to Bergen Griegs home town to join forces with Andrew Litton and the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra in performances of Grieg and Liszt that are set to become landmark recordings of all three concertos. Griegs A minor Piano Concerto, with its plethora of great tunes, is one of the most popular of all Romantic works, while Liszts two highly original concertos present unique challenges to both pianist and orchestra. These performances are exciting, magisterial and highly coloured, with breathtaking virtuosity harnessed to poetic refinement and finesse hallmarks of Stephens playing that have already helped his concerto recordings to win two Gramophone Record of the Year accolades. Stephen Hough and Andrew Litton continue the astonishing success of their collaboration in Rachmaninovs concertos, Hyperions fastest-selling recording. The Bergen players provide freshly idiomatic support in the Grieg and revel in the sumptuous scoring of the Liszt. The results are thrilling, and this deserves a place in any music lovers collection, no matter how familiar the music. Released to coincide with the twin anniversaries of Liszts birth (200 years ago) and Stephens own 50th birthday (in November), this recording is an apt celebration of both.
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Wonderful recordings (as recommended by Radio 3, usually pretty infallible!) and excellent value with the coupling of Liszt and Grieg together. Thoroughly recommended.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
2 reviews
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
"Bread and Butter" concertos
11 Nov 2011
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
The first time that I heard Stephen Hough's extraordinarily great pianism was in his "on fire" and fantastically great performance of the unknown Scharwenka fourth ( 4th ) piano concerto. That performance turned me into an ardent fan of Hough's playing. Now, of course, he has "graduated" to the "big leagues" of the piano playing world and is now recording what I consider to be the "bread and butter" piano concertos. Evidence of that fact is this his most recent recording release of the Grieg A minor concerto and the two (2) known concertos by Liszt in E flat and A major accompanied by the very sensitive conducting of Andrew Litton with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra playing most wonderfully.
Did I really need yet another recording of the above mentioned concertos by Grieg and Liszt that are contained in this recording? After listening to this very fine recording by Stephen Hough and the forces mentioned above, the answer is a resounding YES. Hough plays these very well known works brilliantly with astounding flashes of technical bravado along with "heartfelt" tenderness--his technique is awesome. At the same time, I felt that I was hearing especially the Grieg for the first time. In the aforesaid work, to me, Hough has stripped away a lot of that work's so-called "traditions" Instead we are left with much clarity and lightness that sounds, to me, what I imagine were Grieg's intentions. Don't misunderstand me and be assured that there is "jaw dropping" brilliance on display that Stephen Hough most assuredly delivers. The same applies to the Liszt concertos which I am afraid to admit have never been particular favorites of mine. However, I enjoyed the subject recordings of the Liszt concertos far more than I've enjoyed other recordings of the Liszt works--the first is filled with some very exciting piano playing and the second concerto sounds so "manly" and "full bodied".
A very fine recording indeed with all 69 minutes being in exemplary sound
Do read the very informative notes to this recording. They are filled with much information especially about Liszt and his concertos--a good read.
Did I really need yet another recording of the above mentioned concertos by Grieg and Liszt that are contained in this recording? After listening to this very fine recording by Stephen Hough and the forces mentioned above, the answer is a resounding YES. Hough plays these very well known works brilliantly with astounding flashes of technical bravado along with "heartfelt" tenderness--his technique is awesome. At the same time, I felt that I was hearing especially the Grieg for the first time. In the aforesaid work, to me, Hough has stripped away a lot of that work's so-called "traditions" Instead we are left with much clarity and lightness that sounds, to me, what I imagine were Grieg's intentions. Don't misunderstand me and be assured that there is "jaw dropping" brilliance on display that Stephen Hough most assuredly delivers. The same applies to the Liszt concertos which I am afraid to admit have never been particular favorites of mine. However, I enjoyed the subject recordings of the Liszt concertos far more than I've enjoyed other recordings of the Liszt works--the first is filled with some very exciting piano playing and the second concerto sounds so "manly" and "full bodied".
A very fine recording indeed with all 69 minutes being in exemplary sound
Do read the very informative notes to this recording. They are filled with much information especially about Liszt and his concertos--a good read.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Poetry and Fireworks aplenty here
27 Feb 2012
Format:Audio CD
It has become so common to see the Grieg and Schumann Concertos coupled together on CD that this Liszt - Grieg compilation comes as a surprise. The Grieg - Schumann combo makes a certain kind of sense, in that both concertos are in A Minor, primarily lyrical, and start with an orchestral hit followed by a cadenza-like passage for piano. But the Liszt - Grieg makes historical sense because Liszt was among the first to see this concerto before it was published, and was notably enthusiastic.
Critics tend to compare pianists with legendary elders (Volodos is the new Horowitz; Brendel was the new Schnabel, etc.). Stephen Hough reminds me not so much of any pianist as of a conductor: Arturo Toscanini. No, Hough is not temperamental like the Italian Maestro. But his approach to music interpretation seems to be to discard traditional tempo changes, rubatos, and the like (which Toscanini derided as "the last bad performance"), study the score as if it were being played for the first time, and make any interpretive decisions on that basis.
Hough's rendition of the Liszt E-flat Concerto effectively melds virtuoso fireworks in the outer movements, with melting poetry in the second. I've seldom heard those first movement octaves tossed off with such sharpness. Too often, I've heard pianists play the second movement flatly, passing time until they can move on to the "fun" parts. Not here - Hough makes it seem like we're encountering this music for the first time. The finale is given at a steadier tempo than customary, so the structure of the piece emerges clearly - not something Liszt often gets credit for. Those tricky repeated note passages are played to perfection, unlike Arthur Rubinstein's two recordings where they sound garbled. A note on the orchestra's contribution: it's nice to hear the triangle solo in proper perspective: discreet - not garish as in too many recordings.
In Hough's hands, the opening of A Major Concerto is epic, as if it springs directly from the Years of Pilgrimage, building to an enormous climax at movement's end. As with the first concerto, the lyrical second movement is given its due. For me, part of the secret of great music making is that it leads from note to note, phrase to phrase - taking the listener on an emotional journey. That's how Hough makes sense of a concerto that is too often the excuse for shallow virtuosity - rather than the musical virtuosity Hough brings to the fore.
Many have, and still do, treat the Grieg Concerto as "cheap stuff." Here, the lines of the first movement emerge clearly, thanks to Hough's sparing use of the sustaining pedal. The second movement is permeated with a sense of restrained longing, while the finale effectively melds the extroversion of the outer sections with the poetic central interlude. Hough's playing is backed up by particularly fine orchestral playing from the Bergen Philharmonic under Andrew Litton - this is the clearest string playing I've ever heard in this piece.
The sound is focused without being overly immediate, with an excellent balance between piano and orchestra.
Critics tend to compare pianists with legendary elders (Volodos is the new Horowitz; Brendel was the new Schnabel, etc.). Stephen Hough reminds me not so much of any pianist as of a conductor: Arturo Toscanini. No, Hough is not temperamental like the Italian Maestro. But his approach to music interpretation seems to be to discard traditional tempo changes, rubatos, and the like (which Toscanini derided as "the last bad performance"), study the score as if it were being played for the first time, and make any interpretive decisions on that basis.
Hough's rendition of the Liszt E-flat Concerto effectively melds virtuoso fireworks in the outer movements, with melting poetry in the second. I've seldom heard those first movement octaves tossed off with such sharpness. Too often, I've heard pianists play the second movement flatly, passing time until they can move on to the "fun" parts. Not here - Hough makes it seem like we're encountering this music for the first time. The finale is given at a steadier tempo than customary, so the structure of the piece emerges clearly - not something Liszt often gets credit for. Those tricky repeated note passages are played to perfection, unlike Arthur Rubinstein's two recordings where they sound garbled. A note on the orchestra's contribution: it's nice to hear the triangle solo in proper perspective: discreet - not garish as in too many recordings.
In Hough's hands, the opening of A Major Concerto is epic, as if it springs directly from the Years of Pilgrimage, building to an enormous climax at movement's end. As with the first concerto, the lyrical second movement is given its due. For me, part of the secret of great music making is that it leads from note to note, phrase to phrase - taking the listener on an emotional journey. That's how Hough makes sense of a concerto that is too often the excuse for shallow virtuosity - rather than the musical virtuosity Hough brings to the fore.
Many have, and still do, treat the Grieg Concerto as "cheap stuff." Here, the lines of the first movement emerge clearly, thanks to Hough's sparing use of the sustaining pedal. The second movement is permeated with a sense of restrained longing, while the finale effectively melds the extroversion of the outer sections with the poetic central interlude. Hough's playing is backed up by particularly fine orchestral playing from the Bergen Philharmonic under Andrew Litton - this is the clearest string playing I've ever heard in this piece.
The sound is focused without being overly immediate, with an excellent balance between piano and orchestra.
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
