Stephen Hough joins the celebrations for Chopin’s 200th birthday with a disc containing much of the composer’s most extraordinary music, written in the last years of his life where the expressive possibilities of his art were constantly unfolding as he imbued his favoured forms with previously unknown levels of complexity and emotional depth. This disc includes the intoxicatingly ornamented Berceuse Op 57 and the sublime Barcarolle in F sharp major as well as the Polonaise-Fantasy in A flat major and the towering Piano Sonata No 3 in B minor. Also included are two late Nocturnes which demonstrate how Chopin’s art had evolved since he first composed in that genre in his youth. The programme is completed by a selection of Mazurkas, each a tiny jewel, containing no less mastery than their larger counterparts, and providing moving sonic evidence of the contemplative profundity of Chopin’s late style.

Stephen Hough’s extraordinarily sensitive playing is informed by his limitless technique and engaging musical imagination. This is the Chopin of a true Romantic.

Few—very few—musicians could write an essay on 'Chopin, Rothko, and the bowler hat' and do so in a manner which engages each of its subjects with an equal respect, affection and lightly worn erudition. Stephen Hough is one of those select few. Indeed, his contributions to the booklet notes which accompany his recordings are invariably illuminating, sharing with the listener/reader meaningful insights into how he approaches the recorded repertoire.

The hat Stephen is wearing as he contemplates the immensities of Rothko's Untitled (1953/4) is recognizably of the type designed and first made by James Lock & Co. of St James's in 1849. The painting is, of course, immediately recognizable as a Rothko, even if it predates by several years his move to a predominantly darker palette (perhaps best epitomized by the works originally intended for the Seagram building in New York and now housed in London's Tate Modern).

The design concept behind the photograph has since been revisited several times, most recently for the cover of Vida breve (CDA68260), but this one was the original, considered so distinctive by Faber that they chose it for the cover of Stephen's collection of essays—Rough Ideas—published in 2019.

On the occasion of his sixtieth birthday later in 2021, it only remains for us to send all our love, good wishes, and thanks for more life-affirming recordings than perhaps any record label has a right to expect. Hats off, gentlemen (and ladies)!