Schubert's 'Unfinished' Symphony is brought to
a satisfying close
a satisfying close
The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment under Vladimir Jurowski at the Festival Hall, London, England -
Stephen Hough - Steinway-Artist
This concert bristled with interest and ingenuity. For one thing, it proposed a solution to the eternal conundrum of Schubert's "Unfinished"
Symphony. For another, it gave a fair idea of what Brahms's titanic First Piano Concerto might have sounded like when the composer
himself played it in the 19th century.
The case of the unfinished symphony, Schubert's Eighth, is something that has taxed musical detectives for more than 150 years.
Brahms apparently loved to play his First Piano Concerto on a Centennial D Steinway Grand, and listening to Stephen Hough's dynamic,
magisterial performance of it on a restored 1876 model it is easy to understand why. The Centennial D is a sturdy beast, mellower in
timbre than a modern Steinway but with hidden depths and a wonderful, deep-throated growl to its bass notes. In Hough's hands it also
revealed a range of colour and a responsiveness to touch, not merely in the concerto's more mammoth moments but elsewhere in
passages of delicacy.
With Jurowski's judicious balance of the period instruments, piano and orchestra were ideally matched. All in all, a fascinating
experimental evening yielding intriguing rewards.
Stephen Hough - Steinway-Artist
This concert bristled with interest and ingenuity. For one thing, it proposed a solution to the eternal conundrum of Schubert's "Unfinished"
Symphony. For another, it gave a fair idea of what Brahms's titanic First Piano Concerto might have sounded like when the composer
himself played it in the 19th century.
The case of the unfinished symphony, Schubert's Eighth, is something that has taxed musical detectives for more than 150 years.
Brahms apparently loved to play his First Piano Concerto on a Centennial D Steinway Grand, and listening to Stephen Hough's dynamic,
magisterial performance of it on a restored 1876 model it is easy to understand why. The Centennial D is a sturdy beast, mellower in
timbre than a modern Steinway but with hidden depths and a wonderful, deep-throated growl to its bass notes. In Hough's hands it also
revealed a range of colour and a responsiveness to touch, not merely in the concerto's more mammoth moments but elsewhere in
passages of delicacy.
With Jurowski's judicious balance of the period instruments, piano and orchestra were ideally matched. All in all, a fascinating
experimental evening yielding intriguing rewards.
| Stephen Hough |
| Royal Festival Hall - London |
