Master Class video by Stephen Hough

[lontano]

My niece is getting her Master's (in clarinet) at Chicago's Northwestern U. and from a concert website you can watch a video of Stephen Hough giving a piano master class that runs about 68 min, beginning with Scriabin's Sonata-Fantasy No2, followed by some Ravel and Chopin. Follow the link and scroll down to the video you want. WARNING: I'm currently experiencing very slow transmission speeds with this site, so I'm letting the viewer buffer up before attempting to watch it. I don't know if it's a permanent or temporary problem. Good luck!

https://www.pickstaiger.org/video-library

[arumih]

Hmm, surprised there's no discussion on this one...I've never been to a masterclass, so this video was very interesting. Reminds me of my piano teacher I had over the past few summers when I was back home from university. I'd just show up with whatever pieces I was learning, I'd play, she'd give it a sight-read and then give the best advice, sometimes hard to follow, sometimes the language a bit too flowerly lol. In a few parts some of the way he expresses ideas is quite funny. Even he knows he's not making sense, but it's hard to put musical expression into words.

I thought it was kinda encouraging too, to see that here are students playing (to me anyway) pretty much perfectly, but there's still a lot more to learn and explore. That sort of reminds me to not be to hard on myself because I have a lonnnnggggg way to go before I can even begin playing any of the pieces done in the masterclass!

Strange though that he says he never learned Ondine...

[lontano]

I've wondered what a "master giving a master class" would do if a true savant-level prodigy played so well for the teacher that the teacher was left speechless...

But, as you said, Hough is often pressed for the proper words to convey the subtle nuances that make the difference between a "fine" performance and a "masterful" one. And most performers are always looking to find something "extra" to make even their best interpretations better. Take Glenn Gould and his Goldbergs, or Argerich and her Ondines, etc.

[lontano]

Hmm, surprised there's no discussion on this one...I've never been to a masterclass, so this video was very interesting. Reminds me of my piano teacher I had over the past few summers when I was back home from university. I'd just show up with whatever pieces I was learning, I'd play, she'd give it a sight-read and then give the best advice, sometimes hard to follow, sometimes the language a bit too flowerly lol. In a few parts some of the way he expresses ideas is quite funny. Even he knows he's not making sense, but it's hard to put musical expression into words.

I thought it was kinda encouraging too, to see that here are students playing (to me anyway) pretty much perfectly, but there's still a lot more to learn and explore. That sort of reminds me to not be to hard on myself because I have a lonnnnggggg way to go before I can even begin playing any of the pieces done in the masterclass!

Strange though that he says he never learned Ondine...

Honestly, I think Hough's instruction to the young woman performing Ondine was about as uninformed as a lesson can be. Maybe he passed along a wee bit of general insight, but he obviously was discovering elements of the work just as he was advising someone who a hell of alot more about it than he did. And, as you say, he never learned this piece, which was one of the most frequently played works among the finalists in this years Van Cliburn Competition. Maybe not so much when Hough was coming up, but he's not all that old, and personally I don't really know his general repertoire. His notes on Scriabin's Sonata-Fantasie No.2 was interesting, and despite its length I would have loved to see a really comprehensive study of the 1st movement, along with Ondine, being 2 of my favorite single movements of all (late) romantic piano works.

L.