Hough: Dvořák and Schumann Piano Concertos CD review – poised brilliance

Both these concertos were recorded in performances Stephen Hough gave with the CBSO last season, and something of the buzz of those comes across here. Hough and conductor Andris Nelsons are persuasive advocates for Dvořák’s concerto, his first and least famous work of that kind. It’s quite a warhorse, and the piano writing can be repetitive and insistent, but Hough gets the listener past this with playing that always has a spring in it. His tone, as captured here, might be on the bright side of ideal for some tastes; others will appreciate the piano being foregrounded when it’s this crisply and elegantly played. The Schumann is also buoyant, but has a mellower feel, with characterful darkness from the woodwind in the opening movement and a real sense of dialogue between pianist and orchestra in the second. In the finale, Hough provides all the poised brilliance one could ask for.