Sunday 23 October 2011

Brahms - Piano Concerto 2 [Hough/ Davis-BBC Symphony Orchestra]

You know, i've always felt that Brahms's First Piano Concerto is superior to the Second, the First was the very first Piano Concerto that i ever listened to, it introduced me the wonderful world of the Piano Concerto, and it has a special place in my heart, it's hard to knock something off of that sort of a pedestal, but... now i really do feel that this Second is actually the better of the two, it's taken a long time to come to that conclusion. 

Stephen Hough is English, now 49 years old, he records on the Hyperion label now, but he has a decent discography on the Virgin label as here, this disc was recorded in 1989, i believe this disc is reissued as a double set with the First Concerto, but the artwork is rubbish, this is the original issue, and comes with a great photo on the front cover [by Rory Carnegie], a well lit photo, dark and shadowy, full of browns, with his face and the keys well illuminated, a nice pose too.