Oxford Piano Festival: Stephen Hough at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford on Friday 30th July 2021

Please note: This concert is in the past and has already taken place.

Oxford Piano Festival: Stephen Hough

Part of the Oxford Piano Festival 2021

Add to my Calendar 30-07-2021 20:30 30-07-2021 22:30 36 Oxford Piano Festival: Stephen Hough The world of Catalan composer Federico Mompou is a place of innocence and charm exquisitely reduced to small-scale pieces that make perfect encores. But for Stephen Hough – a long-term Mompou champion – there’s spiritual depth behind the notes that calls for more considered hearing. His whole recital is constructed around Mompou’s Música Callada or Music of Silence: an extraordinary collection of contemplative miniatures inspired by the poetry of St John of the Cross and expressed in terms that pass through pain and joy into transcendence. Written in the 1950s/60s, they prefigure the simplicity of latter-day ‘Holy Minimalism’, with an austerity that Hough calls ‘shocking, but with healing in the silences and harmonies that Mompou quietly leaves hanging in the air. To play them is like playing at a sacred service’, so it’s fitting that the venue here will be Christ Church Cathedral, one of Oxford’s ancient sacred spaces. Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford DD/MM/YYYY

Details

Christ Church Cathedral
St Aldate's
Oxford
Oxfordshire
OX1 1DP
England

Friday 30th July 2021
8:30 PM

Programme

Federico Mompou – Música Callada

Performers

Stephen Hough – piano

Oxford Piano Festival

Other concerts in this Series (+)

Programme Note

The world of Catalan composer Federico Mompou is a place of innocence and charm exquisitely reduced to small-scale pieces that make perfect encores. But for Stephen Hough – a long-term Mompou champion – there’s spiritual depth behind the notes that calls for more considered hearing. His whole recital is constructed around Mompou’s Música Callada or Music of Silence: an extraordinary collection of contemplative miniatures inspired by the poetry of St John of the Cross and expressed in terms that pass through pain and joy into transcendence. Written in the 1950s/60s, they prefigure the simplicity of latter-day ‘Holy Minimalism’, with an austerity that Hough calls ‘shocking, but with healing in the silences and harmonies that Mompou quietly leaves hanging in the air. To play them is like playing at a sacred service’, so it’s fitting that the venue here will be Christ Church Cathedral, one of Oxford’s ancient sacred spaces.

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