CHOPIN: LATE MASTERPIECES – Stephen Hough Hyperion

1
Barcarolle in F sharp major Op 60[8’30]2
Mazurka in F minor Op 63 No 2[1’42]3
Mazurka in A minor Op 67 No 4[2’46]4
Mazurka in C sharp minor Op 63 No 3[2’03]5
Mazurka in F minor Op 68 No 4[1’40]6
Polonaise-Fantasy in A flat major Op 61[13’40]7
Nocturne in B major Op 62 No 1[6’44]8
Nocturne in E major Op 62 No 2[5’47]Piano Sonata No 3 in B minor Op 58[25’44]9
Allegro maestoso[9’06]10
Scherzo: Molto vivace[2’45]11
Largo[8’42]12
Finale: Presto non tanto[5’11]13
Berceuse in D flat major Op 57[4’10]

Stephen Hough joins the celebrations for Chopin’s 200th birthday with a disc containing much of the composer’s most extraordinary music, written in the last years of his life where the expressive possibilites of his art were constantly unfolding as he imbued his favoured forms with previously unknown levels of complexity and emotional depth. This disc includes the intoxicatingly ornamented Berceuse Op 57 and the sublime Barcarolle in F sharp major as well as the Polonaise-Fantasy in A flat major and the towering Piano Sonata No 3 in B minor. Also included are two late Nocturnes which demonstrate how Chopin’s art had evolved since he first composed in that genre in his youth. The programme is completed by a selection of Mazurkas, each a tiny jewel, containing no less mastery than their larger counterparts, and providing moving sonic evidence of the contemplative profundity of Chopin’s late style.

Stephen Hough’s extraordinarily sensitive playing is informed by his limitless technique and engaging musical imagination. This is the Chopin of a true Romantic.