Stephen Hough - The Loneliest Wilderness

Stephen Hough’s elegy for cello and orchestra, The Loneliest Wilderness, was originally released on a BIS disc of works by Hough alone, but the recrding company has seen fit to re-issue the work on a disc that includes the work of Bloch and Bridge played by one of the composer/pianists long-time recital partners, Steven Isserlis.

The work, inspired by a poem by Herbert Read, has already received praise from reviewers but the current issue has seen the work compared to its counterparts on the disc… and a most favourable comparisons they are!

Of The Loneliest Wilderness, The Strad says “Isserlis tells its tragic story so vividly that in one passage of accompanied recitative you can almost hear the words.” 

There is an excellent review by David Jennings on Musicweb International who says “The work evolves at a very leisurely pace, yet doesn’t seem a note too long… A sizeable proportion of contemporary composers should learn from this example as so many new pieces still suffer from an excess of notes.” Praise indeed for the composer!

In the Shadow of War
Works by Bloch, Bridge and Hough
Steven Isserlis (cello), Tapiola Sinfonietta/Gabor Takacs-Nagy

MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL - BIS-SACD 1992

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