A Mozart Album
Stephen Hough

Hyperion CDA67598

Release date March 2008

Stephen Hough’s latest disc, entitled A Mozart Album, is a delight to listen to.  At first glance one would expect the disc to consist entirely of Mozart, but Hough has instead chosen to divide the programme into two parts.  The first half is as one would expect – a selection of Mozart piano works.  The second part of the disc is, in my mind, what makes this disc stand out from the numerous other Mozart recital discs in the catalogue.  Hough has created a homage to Mozart, bringing together works by Cramer, Friedman, a Liszt-Busoni transcription and finally Three Mozart Transformations written by Hough himself.   The recording begins with Mozart’s Fantasia in C minor, K475.  The ever-changing atmosphere is captured immediately; Hough has just the right balance of tension and languidness.  His understanding of Mozart’s music continues to be demonstrated through the Sonata no. 13 and a Fantasia in C minor, K396.  The delicacy of Cramer’s Hommage à Mozart has been ideally portrayed here.  Friedman’s elegant Minuetto is based upon a Mozart divertimento for two horns and strings.  Hough wrote the three transcriptions that make up Three Mozart Transformations for the 2006 Salzburg Festival after being asked to take part in a recital with a Mozart/contemporary theme.  “Not being able to find anything suitable with which to add a little modern twist, I thought I would compose something myself.”  The result is a set of pieces which most certainly have their modern twist – take as an example the third, Sehnsucht nach dem Frühlinge, where one can find a jazz-based influence amongst something that all the while retains its Mozart roots.  Busoni’s arrangement of Liszt’s Fantasia on two themes from Mozart’s ‘The Marriage of Figaro’ brings the disc to a fitting close. 

Reviewed by Ruth Squire