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Track(s) taken from CDA66963

Prélude 6

composer
for the left hand

Stephen Hough (piano)
Recording details: July 1996
St George's, Brandon Hill, United Kingdom
Produced by Andrew Keener
Engineered by Tony Faulkner
Release date: August 1997
Total duration: 5 minutes 25 seconds

Cover artwork: Coxcombs. Ben Moore
Reproduced by permission of the artist / Private Collection
 

Reviews

‘Altogether outstanding in every way … a real treat … utterly compelling playing with a recording to match … in the hands of an imaginative pianist like Stephen Hough this other-worldly, almost eremitic [music] becomes revelatory. He catches Mompou's wistful moods to perfection’ (Gramophone)

‘It's a rare thing for an artist's programme notes to vie in quality with his playing. There is simply no better description of this music, nor any more persuasive, imaginative and spiritually attuned performer of it. Fascinating, hypnotic, mystical. Commended’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘In his skilfully planned and superlatively played programme Stephen Hough achieves a vivid sense of contrast, of temporal and spiritual reflection. His rare empathy for such music is reflected in Hyperion's cloudless recording’ (BBC Record Review)

‘Perhaps the most significant piano release of the year’ (The Independent)

‘Pianism of a very high order indeed, backed up by a recording of beautiful limpidity. Spellbinding music, immaculately performed’ (Classic CD)

«Ce CD est une parfaite introduction à une oeuvre aussi passionante que difficile à cerner. La prise de son d'une qualité exceptionelle de rondeur et de naturel» (Répertoire, France)
The eleven Préludes were written between 1927 and 1960 and typically show the sweeter side of Mompou’s harmonic language. Notable amongst them are No 1, originally entitled by the composer ‘A window with light’ and marked in the score ‘Dans le style romance’, and No 6, for the left hand alone and one of the composer’s most unique and profound pieces—tender and private, passionate yet chaste.

from notes by Stephen Hough © 1997

Les onze Préludes, écrits entre 1927 et 1960, sont typiques du caractère plus doux du langage harmonique de Mompou. Deux d’entre eux nous semblent remarquables: le no1, originellement intitulé «Une fenêtre avec lumière» par le compositeur et marqué «Dans le style romance» sur la partition, et le no6, pour la main gauche seule, l’une des pièces les plus uniques et profondes de Mompou—tendre et intime, passionnée mais chaste.

extrait des notes rédigées par Stephen Hough © 1997
Français: Hypérion

Die elf Préludes, zwischen 1927 und 1960 geschrieben, sind ein typisches Beispiel für Mompous lieblich klingende Harmonik. Besonders erwähnenswert wären Nr. 1, vom Komponisten ursprünglich „Fenster mit Licht“ betitelt, in der Partitur als „Dans le style romance“ („Im romantischen Stil“) bezeichnet, und Nr. 6, für die Linke geschrieben und eines der einzigartigsten und tiefsinnigsten Stücke des Komponisten—zart und vertraulich, leidenschaftlich jedoch keusch.

aus dem Begleittext von Stephen Hough © 1997
Deutsch: Margaret Morey

Los once Préludes fueron compuestos entre 1927 y 1960 y muestran típicamente el lado más dulce del lenguaje armónico de Mompou. Notables entre ellos son el Nº 1, en un principio titulado por el compositor ‘Una ventana con luz’ y con la antoación en la partitura ‘Dans le style romance’ y el Nº 6, para la mano izquierda sola y una de las piezas más singulares y profundas del compositor: tierna y privada, apasionada y sin embargo casta.

extraído de las notas de Stephen Hough © 1997
Español: Karmelín Adams

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