Stephen Hough

Stephen Hough’s beautifully crafted programme offers a personal consideration of the subject of death. But, rather than being an evening of introspection, the starting point is Stephen’s observation that ‘in the word of the arts – painting, literature and music – death has always been a central subject resulting in the most exalted and inexhaustible expression’.

Different perspectives are provided by Bach, Busoni and Chopin, while in Liszt’s two Mephisto Waltzes, the Devil is confronted face to face. The Vida Breve subtitle of Stephen’s own Fourth Sonata is intended ‘to evoke the melancholy of life’s short duration… as well as to prepare the listener for a sonata lasting only 10 minutes’.