Events

Chaminade Automne, Op. 35, No. 2
Chaminade L’Autre Fois, Op. 87, No. 4
Liszt Sonata for Piano in B minor, S178
Interval
Chaminade Thème Varié, Op. 89
Chaminade Les Sylvains, Op. 60
Chopin Sonata No. 3 in B minor, Op.58

Note: this programme is slightly changed from the one previously advertised. Sir Stephen Hough has removed a couple of the Chaminade pieces to create a better balance.

Sir Stephen Hough’s programme is dominated in each half by a major piano sonata. First, the one and only sonata for piano that Liszt composed, a highly virtuosic work that is conceived as a single entity and lasts without break for half an hour. After the interval, Chopin’s third and final piano sonata is a typically brilliant account of the classic 4-movement sonata form.

With these two giants, Sir Stephen introduces pieces by Cécile Chaminard, a French concert pianist and composer of the late nineteenth century. Chaminard composed more than 400 works including an opera, a ballet and orchestral music, but most of all she composed mélodies and character pieces for solo piano. Dismissed by the Paris establishment as a composer of ‘salon music’, she died in poverty and was largely forgotten. It is good to have her brought out from the shadows.

In 2023/2024 Sir Stephen Hough opens the Wigmore Hall season, premieres his own piano concerto in the USA and Europe  and performs recitals in cities including Beijing, Bilbao, San Francisco, Seoul and Shanghai. We are delighted to have him back in Oxford.