Stephen Hough Piano Recital At The Louvre

Stephen Hough has some really powerful hands. His arch and grasping motion are functioning very well and all his movements reflect musical gestures. I am not sure if his hands is are refined as they could be but they still have tremendous energy. I think this physical organization reflects something of his music making. There is very little generic expressivity and lots of fresh interpretive ideas. What are your thoughts?

Actually this playing represents all the limitations I am trying to overcome by presenting my approach. He is very capable and very musical, his fingers work well and his arch is fine. But he is limiting himself by using the weight of the arm to help throw his fingers into the keys. Unfortunately this 'generifies' he does. Sorry to be a wet blanket but I think if I had a chance to discuss this with Hough he would agree with me. Thanks for an excellent contribution to the ongoing exchange! AFF

I commented specifically on the strength and definition of his hands and the energy of his grasping motion. I don't think it is the most refined movement and sometimes the results do not seem to justify the effort. I am also not sure about his tendency to lean back and sometimes he looks a little stiff. Also I think he does less of this throwing of the arm later in the recital than he does in the Bach Toccata. But his physical approach to the keyboard is far more explosive and energetic than that of most others and consequently his limitations are very different from that of a generic player. They do not lead to generic music making. I think that he articulates musical lines with tremendous eloquence and freedom. He has real insight the polyphonic and harmonic subleties of the music.

I would agree with that. I've always loved his playing actually. But I can't help seeing this deficiency. On this forum we are trying to hone our perceptions and carry the conversation further so I am obliged to mention the things I see, even if it seems obsessive at times! Perhaps someone can learn something if they succeed in noticing too that one aspect of his technique that I commented on... By the way, I think I simply put the finger on the underlying reason for perception, that his touch was in some way unrefined... AFF

I definitely think that my perceptions have sharpened after reading your work and some of the exchanges on the forum. Generally I think I appreciate evolved movement and its role in music making much more than I used to. For example I can appreciate the conducting gestures of Carlos Kleiber as expressions through movement of a highly evolved musician. Regarding the lack of refinement, I meant that he does not seem to fully sense the bony structure in his hands, as well sculpted as they are. Maybe the reason for this is that he throws with his arm into the keys.

Exactly! Well put! By the way, these Kleiber clips are exquisite - not only is he moving beautifully but with many gestures mirroring some articulative or expressive detail - way more of this than you normally see. Thanks! AFF

Just wondering what you think of this, on a closely related note? Like Hough, I think he's a spectacular pianist. However, I can't help but think that his style of movement looks "wrong" in almost every way (except for the fact that his fingers move work well without excess arm pressure). The inversion you speak of applies to his left hand about as severely as anything I've ever seen. It seems absolutely standard to his motions, rather than a special exception to serve a particular purpose. You can frequently see the severe collapse of the 2nd during the process of sounding chords- wasting much of the energy into dead slack. His r.h. 5th knuckle also tends to descend severely at times when not being used- which, unlike Horowitz curling, throws it into a severely less than optimal position. He seems able to come out of that just in time to actually play the key from a non-collapsed position, but it just seems totally counterproductive to have to constantly have to recover in the nick of time. While Horowitz keeps the knuckle primed, this just seems to take it well away from being ready for anything. In many lesser pianists (myself regularly included) it's exactly the same habit that often leaves the 5th incapable of anything but being pressed through. There are few living pianists I've heard who have impressed me anywhere near as much, but I can't help thinking that it's very much despite severe issues in the movement, rather than because of it. The only massive problem in the results is that he doesn't seem to have a huge FFF- although he uses dynamics well enough to create far more impression of range than most. His CD is vastly more impressive still than this particular film, in terms of his control over sound. Just wondering whether you think it's a case of unconventional adaptations for good reason, or just some kind of bizarre mystery? While many think of Horowitz as the latter, I think it's quite easy to make sense of most his movements. However, I can scarcely begin to make sense of this.

I saw Ben when he was a kid and he was amazing, very musical and talented and capable that you wondered about reincarnation as the only explanation. His playing was incredibly mature - it simply didn't seem possible for a kid to possess so much musical wisdom. Then I found out who he was going to study with (I will not name names) and I thought to myself, "If his pianism and musicianship survive this it will be an even bigger miracle." This was many years ago and I have no idea with whom he studies now but unfortunately from this clip I would say the aforesaid qualities did survive... Very disappointing. The technical things are as you say but for me it's the musical loss which hurts more. It's not that he doesn't listen to himself any more, it's that he listens with a newly-acquired aesthetic which is so poverty-stricken that he simply has forgotten what a piano can in terms of both orchestration and expression. Maybe he's just going through a phase and having to rediscover things he already knew instinctively as a kid... And by the way, his hands were much better when he was a kid. I loved Ben and his playing from the moment I first heard him, and I don't see him as the guilty party at all - it's just that now he seems to be less and more a victim of the system. AFF PS Jeez, I seem to be trashing everyone these days, first Weissenberg now Benjamin, I wonder what it is...

And by the way, his hands were much better when he was a kid. I loved Ben and his playing from the moment I first heard him, and I don't see him as the guilty party at all - it's just that now he seems to be less and more a victim of the system. AFF PS Jeez, I seem to be trashing everyone these days, first Weissenberg now Benjamin, I wonder what it is... I wouldn't give up just yet! This article is very interesting. Although it does say that he was doing the old-style hand separation even before he was listening to older generations, I think it's pretty clear how much he's learned from great performers, judging from this. However, more importantly than what he says- here's some of his Liszt sonata: If anything, some of it's a little too experimental even for my tastes, but there's plenty of the good stuff going on still. I didn't think the Chopin/Liszt was bad by any means, but it definitely didn't have the level of characterisation that his finest playing does.

Yes many good things in the Liszt - by the way, in my mind it is very difficult to be "too experimental" in that sonata - it demands experimentation! I had a dream once of Liszt himself playing it - totally different from anything I've heard anyone on this earthly plane do... THAT was amazing! About Ben - let me revise my opinion - maybe the maturation process is something where you have to lose and then rediscover something you possessed as a kid - so maybe all is not lost with Ben. Time will tell! AFF