Noted pianist to perform Rachmaninoff ‘Rhapsody’

BY RICK ROGERS Comments 0
Published: November 8, 2009

When a performing artist is forced to cancel an orchestral performance, presenters often have little time to find a replacement. The ideal scenario is securing an artist who has the work programmed for this occasion in his repertoire and can arrive in sufficient time to rehearse with the orchestra.

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Stephen Hough with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic

→When: 8 p.m. Saturday.

→Where: Civic Center Music Hall, 201 N Walker.
→Information: 842-5387.

Stephen Hough, one of the most highly regarded pianists of his generation, remembers getting a call in 1985 to fill in at the last minute on a concert at the Hollywood Bowl. The work he was asked to play was Rachmaninoff’s "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.” Hough had learned it as a student but had not performed it professionally.

"The call came asking if I could play the ‘Rhapsody’ in three days,” Hough said by telephone from his London home. "I asked them to give me an hour to decide. I got hold of a score and thought this was probably worth having a go at. I flew to Los Angeles, and it turned out to be a great experience. In many ways, that led to a lot of other performing opportunities.”

Hough will perform Rachmaninoff’s "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini” at Saturday’s classics concert presented by the Oklahoma City Philharmonic. Music director Joel Levine also has programmed Strauss’ "Death and Transfiguration,” Ravel’s "La Valse” and Hindemith’s "Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Weber.”

"The ‘Rhapsody’ is a marvelous piece that I never get tired of playing,” Hough said.

The "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini” is a set of 24 variations on the last of Niccolo Paganini’s "Caprices for Solo Violin.” Rachmaninoff was the soloist for the work’s premiere Nov. 7, 1934, at the Lyric Opera House in Baltimore. Leopold Stokowski conducted the Philadelphia Orchestra. The "Rhapsody” has remained a favorite of pianists and audiences.

"Rachmaninoff was a great virtuoso pianist who wrote to the fullest of his abilities,” Hough said, regarding the work’s complexities. "There are difficult moments, and it’s important for the soloist to be tight with the orchestra. There’s not as much give and take as you have in the concertos. Of course, in some ways, everything is difficult to play really well. To go out on stage and create something electric is challenging.”

Hough was 21 years old when he won the prestigious Naumburg Competition in 1983. While many would welcome the acclaim that accompanies a competition win, Hough said he wasn’t prepared for the career that resulted. Young pianists typically have a limited repertoire and, depending on how heavy their schedule becomes, little time to learn new music.

"You can only learn it by experimenting,” Hough said. "A lot of students I come across have an unrealistic understanding of what’s out there when you start a career. It’s giving you the keys to the car, but you still have to drive it. Consider this scenario: You’re playing in Carnegie Hall, you do a great job, and they ask if you can come back the next year with a different program.

"I’m playing 15 different concertos this season, so how do I have time to learn new repertoire? A lot of people have a program they play for years or a piece that won a competition for them. That becomes stuff that’s growing in very shallow ground. I feel you need a whole orchard to call upon in terms of repertoire.

"You have to be wildly in love with pieces to play them time after time and to have new thoughts about them. This has to be music you can’t wait to play. People who can do that year after year are the great artists. When you really perform at your best, there’s a little bit of you that’s been left on the stage when you leave it. You’re giving something of yourself each time you perform.”