Stephen Hough

i just have to post this.
i've just attended the best concerto performance of my life.
stephen hough was just amazing.
i've always thought that british pianists are predictable, safe and boring,
but hough just shows otherwise.

he's so naturally one with the music,
he sat quite still during his playing,
and never for once resorted to histrionics.
yet his octaves had so much power,
his hands glided over the keys with such fluency,
and he played with a ravishingly beautiful tone.

his playing of the third movement
made me see it in a totally different light.
i didn't know it could be so 'hungarian' with all those accents.
he played with such ease in such a difficult piece of music.

i must have attended over a hundred live classical music concerts since 1995,
never for once have I been so impressed before.
and the brahms concerto isn't even one of my favourite concerti.

i will now definitely put stephen hough as one of the world's top 3 pianists.
okay, enough of gushing.
more marking to be done tomorrow.