In Sunday’s (10/4) Star Tribune (Minneapolis), Michael Anthony writes, “Orchestra Hall has been functioning as a giant recording studio the past two weeks so that Osmo Vänskä and the Minnesota Orchestra, along with pianist Stephen Hough, can finish their multi-disc Tchaikovsky project, which will be released next year on the Hyperion label. At first thought, this may not seem so novel given the fact that recordings have been made at Orchestra Hall since the year it opened in 1974. The Tchaikovsky project, which involves all of that composer’s works for piano and orchestra, is different, however. These will be ‘live’ discs—recordings of the concerts with the audience present. … There’s an added intrigue in this project, and that’s Hough. Though he’s a brilliant pianist, Hough’s style—so light and fleet-fingered—isn’t what we usually hear—or expect to hear—in Tchaikovsky, especially in a burly, massive opus such as the famous Piano Concerto No. 1, which dominated the concert at Orchestra Hall Friday night. And yet, as it turned out, this was an extremely effective performance.” Music by Bartók and Wagner was also on the program.
Posted October 7, 2009
