Stephen Madigan

Some of Stephen Hough’s most exquisite recordings come from his collaborations with EMI and Virgin Classics during this early period, offering a taste of the pianist’s impeccable touch, his musical and intellectual rigor, and his fondness for the short showpieces that filled late 19th-century salons and peppered the 78 rpm records of golden-age pianists. In the two all-Liszt recitals, Stephen Hough is also in his element, creating atmospheric colors, with notes flowing like streams of pearls, shaping and magnifying the dramatic depth of these works. From Mozart to Schumann, Brahms to Britten, looking back at the great virtuoso tradition while looking forward through his own arrangements, Stephen Hough presents, through these early recordings, a fascinating portrait of a young artist whose brilliant, artistic intellect and appetite for creativity remains unmatched today.

Unlike many budget compilations that offer only selected movements or brief excerpts, Decca's Ultimate Piano Concertos: The Essential Masterpieces presents 10 masterworks in their entirety on five CDs, giving concerto fans a satisfying listening experience. Granted, these reissues are not audiophile recordings, nor are the performers familiar in every case; but for analog recordings from the 1950s to the 1970s, and digital recordings from the 1980s, the sound is quite good, and the performers are never less than fine, though in many instances, they are indeed exceptional. These concertos are at the top of most virtuoso pianists' lists, and though fashions change, all of these concertos have staying power and are regularly played in competitions around the world.

MOZART 111 combines the best of the Austrian master's music with the best of Deutsche Grammophon's Mozart recordings, bringing together a total of 111 works, while retaining, as far as possible, the original album releases with their cover art. There's enough of everything here to stock a shop, as they say, in performances that have stood the test of time and performances that make you sit up and listen to Mozart afresh the perfect way to discover, rediscover and savor the incomparable genius of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.