Dernières pièces pour piano

Description

Twilight, the final works that Johannes Brahms dedicated to his dear piano, the companion of his youth with Schumann? Stephen Hough, right from the Capriccio that opens Opus 116, refutes this, playing passionately, making the keyboard sound like a storm. He especially highlights the singularities of this language that suddenly seems so modern, so cutting, and which in 1892 was simply unheard of. With his mastery of timbres and his naturally noble playing, he brings these texts to life, propelling them into a stark light, in contrast to so many pianists who have played them under a lampshade, and suddenly these are no longer mere moments, but a journey that continues through the four volumes, rarely heard so united. And when the pianissimo takes over, Hough becomes a poet, painting the night itself, more tragic than under many other fingers. Opus 119 sounds, in this respect, like a distillation, music that is almost abstract in which Schoenberg would recognize himself. But suddenly the young Brahms returns to dance for a Rhapsody that resonates like a Hymn to the dawn of new music. A remarkable vision where Stephen Hough recalls his impassioned, shadowy readings of the Ballades and the Third Sonata. Will he attempt the volumes of Variations tomorrow, another face of Brahms' piano?