New Classical Tracks: Stephen Hough and Tchaikovsky -- Live, Electrifying, and a Revelation

Last year British pianist Stephen Hough recorded all of Tchaikovsky's piano concertos with Osmo Vanska and the Minnesota Orchestra. "There is something a little bit scary about making a record from a concert," Hough explains, "Live recordings that are just a great concert that happened and people say, 'hey, that was good why don't we make a CD out of it,' is one thing, but planning two years in advance that on this Friday we're going to make a CD of that performance of that piece in that hall, that's more scary because we're human beings and we have good nights and bad nights, and maybe lots of nights that are kind of eight out of ten. But when you make a record you really want it to be an eleven out of ten!" It may have been a bit terrifying, but in the end, Stephen Hough had nothing to worry about. This new recording is definitely an eleven!

This new double-CD recording features all of Tchaikovsky's works for piano and orchestra --- each one recorded live at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis. The first CD opens with the unforgettable Piano Concerto No. 1 in B Flat Major. Tchaikovsky knew this was one of the finest pieces he had written to date, which is why he was so annoyed when his mentor Nikolai Rubenstein mocked the piece and declared it unplayable. Over the years, Tchaikovsky became more open to suggestions from other pianists --- for example, that he make the now famous opening chords more commanding. Stephen Hough, Osmo Vanska and the Minnesota Orchestra dazzle the listener with this thrilling, fresh performance of this essential classic.

Tchaikovsky composed his Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Major five years after the first. Tchaikovsky does something very special in the second movement of this work. Here he creates a gorgeous trio between the principal violin, the principal cello and the piano soloist. It's a beautiful idea that baffled early listeners. Stephen Hough explains, "After the first performance, or the first few performances, criticisms came in. The movement is too long and there's not enough piano in it. I don't think it's too long as long as you have a sense of the structure and the tempo, and the tempo relationship and a flowing tempo. I think really in a way there is an imbalance because the pianist has very little to do in the movement. I have done a slight recasting myself of one moment where I put some of the material from the violin and cello into the piano. It's a very modest change."

Stephen Hough performs the original second movement in the concerto on this recording. According to Hough, most pianists have chosen to play a pared down version which also appears on this recording as an encore at the end of the disc, "What happened with one of Tchaikovsky's pupils, Alexander Siloti, stepped in and said, this thing is too long, there's not enough piano, I'm going to do a change. And he deleted two thirds of the movement, an absolute massacre really, and that is the version that was played exclusively until the 1960's. Tchaikovsky hated it. He was very upset that it was published. I think it's one of the reasons this piece never entered the repertory because that piece in the Silotti version is very insignificant. It's like a little intermezzo with a nice tune, whereas the original has this big climax in the middle, and the cadenzas for the solo cello and solo violin it's a very dramatic, wonderful soundscape."

Stephen Hough did extensive research before recording this complete collection of Tchaikovsky's works for piano and orchestra. Hough says there isn't one piece of evidence that the composer committed suicide and he feels Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 3 supports his theory. This piece is very "every day," according to Hough. It's heroic and uplifting. It sounds very much like something a person would write who plans to go on living. "It's really the Sixth Symphony," Hough explains. "Tchaikovsky started sketching this symphony and then had a better idea for a symphony, and he wrote the Sixth Symphony. And after he finished, maybe his greatest work, the Patethique Symphony, he had this sketch for a symphony and decided to turn it into a piano concerto. And so he finished the first movement, orchestrated it, and then died, and never finished the second and third movement."

If you're looking for a recording that's exciting, reveals new aspects of a familiar composer, and makes you want to listen to it over and over again, then add this new double CD of Tchaikovsky's works for piano and orchestra to your music library. This live recording with Osmo Vanska, The Minnesota Orchestra and pianist Stephen Hough is electrifying!

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