Monday, April 25, 2011

A Stephen Hough Preview

Stephen Hough is coming to St. Louis to play the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra.  Here is a three part interview done with him a couple of years ago in which he discusses playing Tchaikovsky. 

He points out that Tchaikovsky is physically tiring for the pianist – all of those big chords.  But he also sees an innocence in Tchaikovsky and thinks it is important to balance the two sides of Tchaikovsky.

In part 3 he discusses working with conductors, including prior performances with David Robertson.   He won’t be playing with Robertson in St. Louis.  Ward Stare, the SLSO’s Resident Conductor, will be on the podium.

Beowulf, translated by Maria Dahvana Headley

I never intended to read yet another epic poem immediately after finishing The Iliad .  But I subscribe to the Poetry Unbound podcast and in...