If 'ecstasy' means to stand outside ourselves, then what better ambition can there be as we wait in the wings of the Royal Albert Hall: to leave self-obsession behind and take the audience on a journey across the high wire… — Stephen Hough Copy Share Image
One of the things that touches me most when I play for an audience is that although we may be unable to communicate in… — Stephen Hough Copy Share Image
Unlike sport, music is not about winning or keeping fit or promoting your town or school; it's about celebrating, to a level approaching ecstasy,… — Stephen Hough Copy Share Image
In Britten or Berg, there's a tension between the sweet and the sour, between the familiar and the unfamiliar, the tonal and the atonal,… — Stephen Hough Copy Share Image
The things I do outside of playing the piano are done out of an inner necessity, not just because I want to try my… — Stephen Hough Copy Share Image
There are artists who delight listeners with their wild and daring individuality; there are others who uncover the written score with reverence. There are… — Stephen Hough Copy Share Image
They both changed the way we hear the sound of the piano, both of them inventors of sonority: Chopin took bel canto singing lines… — Stephen Hough Copy Share Image
I was such a lazy teenager: I didn't read or play the piano beyond the bare minimum. — Stephen Hough Copy Share Image
I think there are very few people that I would give the title of genius to, really, but Beethoven unquestionably is one of them. — Stephen Hough Copy Share Image
Before the 20th century, to be a successful musician was merely to be one who was employed. A few, such as Liszt, Paderewski and… — Stephen Hough Copy Share Image
In school, my favourite class was when we were given a subject for an essay on which we could freewheel. And poetry: I've always… — Stephen Hough Copy Share Image
If I'm walking along the street, ideas come. Ideas about things that I'm interested in. I've jotted them down in the past on bits… — Stephen Hough Copy Share Image
I can admire music where you feel the composer has everything organized and perfectly shaped, but it doesn't touch me. I like to feel… — Stephen Hough Copy Share Image
I was out of the U.K. as a care-free, fun-loving student for much of Mrs. Thatcher's time in Downing Street, and as I didn't… — Stephen Hough Copy Share Image
Before Liszt, a conductor was someone who just facilitated the performance, who would keep people together or beat the time, indicate the entries. After… — Stephen Hough Copy Share Image
