Hough, Stephen - Second Piano Sonata (Notturno luminoso)

Reviews:

“The brilliant, toccata-like opening might have been Messiaen; Scriabin, Webern and Rachmaninoff were also audible, as was the jazz of the American composers…virtuosic and sparse, the music had a vibrant presence”

“It’s an uneasy confluence of anxious fear and dark foreboding, a nocturne built around night terrors and urban alienation… this work expanded the palette to employ some very contemporary colours”

“It opens and closes with harshly sonorous chimes; in between, Hough creates a restless musical maze that gains momentum until it becomes a seemingly unstoppable toccata. Hough’s voice in this piece is distinctively his own”

“it was interesting to understand Hough’s intellectual standpoint when composing… the concepts which these ideas represented did come across clearly to the audience nonetheless, and the piece was clearly characterful in every section”

“Hough quickly goes his own way, juggling with wild panache his different colours, piano registers and modes of attack… 17 jolting minutes of nocturnal fretting share enough threads to form a convincing, compelling structure. Very impressive. Even breathtaking.”

“Jagged, aggressive chords at the beginning soon break up into motoric rhythms and wispy sprays of notes that take on the character of rivulets of water running between rocks. This quirky “Notturno” is impressive.