Juxtaposing such disparate composers as Scriabin and Janáček may seem like an odd proposition—the Russian darkly ecstatic, the Czech earthily emotional—but the characteristically probing Stephen Hough pulls it off. The British pianist plays the Scriabin (Sonatas Nos 4 and 5, Poème in F-sharp Major and Vers la flamme) with apt sensuality, but also muscularity. His way with the Janáček—Book I of On the overgrown Path and the Piano Sonata 1.X.1905, "From the Street"—can be furtive but ultimately moving. Everything is captured in fantastic sound: bright as an unexpected shaft of moonlight, potent as a blow to the solar plexus.
Listen, USAJuly 2016