THE BEST RECORDING STEPHEN HOUGH

STEPHEN HOUGH’S RACHMANINOV collection for Hyperion includes all four piano concertos and the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. The two-disc set was lauded on its release, and 13 years later remains inspirational. The performance by Hough (right) of the Rhapsody is exceptional, as he balances bravura with passion, poetry and a hint of whimsy.

The variations are laced with insider jokes: the theme, which is given on the strings with selected notes picked out by the piano, doesn’t appear until after an introduction. Here, Hough is more reserved than some of the other pianists featured here. The restrained beginning quickly gains a fluency, and by variations three and four we understand the transformation that is under way. As we gather pace towards the end of the first group of variations, the syncopated phrasing feels richly urbane. It’s an excitement that ripples through the poetic middle variations, eventually exploding in the final climatic glissandos. Conductor Andrew Litton, meanwhile, draws rainbows of colour from the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and the communication between soloist and conductor is seamless – the duo obviously felt so too, as Hough went on to record the Liszt and Grieg concertos with Litton when the latter took up the baton at the Bergen Philharmonic. Hyperion’s production values are the icing on the multi-tiered cake.