Read the program notes here.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch called him “simply one of the finest pianists of the age.” The Financial Times celebrated his “sparkling virtuosity and the nonchalance to suggest it was all nothing really.” Knighted in 2022, he has combined his career as a soloist with those of writer and composer.

Hough’s recital includes two mainstays of the sonata repertoire, both in the dramatic key of B minor. It’s been conjectured that Liszt’s single-movement work was inspired by the Bible, John Milton’s Paradise Lost, or perhaps by Goethe’s Faust. Either way, the conflict between the divine and the demonic is a central theme. The sonata is considered one of the most demanding in both its technical and expressive demands. Its departure from the traditional multi-movement sonata made the work a ground-breaking one, and influenced subsequent piano works.

If Liszt’s sonata looks to the future, Chopin’s is anchored in the past. Its four separate movements hearken back to Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, but within that structure is an abundance of musical ideas, harmonic innovation, and compelling emotionalism.

As a kind of musical amuse-bouche and palate cleanser before and between two formidable works, Sir Hough will perform short piano pieces by Cecile Chaminade. She was the first woman to receive the Legion of Honor and was much admired by Georges Bizet, a family friend who called her “my little Mozart” when she was a child. She went on to publish over 400 works during her 86 years.

Hear one of the titans of the piano world in a program that is sure to move and dazzle you in equal measure!