Acclaimed Pianist Stephen Hough Records on the Yamaha CFX for the Hyperion Label

Stephen Hough is without question one of the most critically acclaimed and popular artists of his generation, having successfully combined a distinguished career as a concert pianist with those of a writer and a composer. In 2009 he was named by The Economist and Intelligent Life magazine as one of twenty living polymaths, joining prominent scientists, writers and unique individuals who have made exceptional contributions to humanity. Earlier this year he was appointed a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the Queen's New Year's Honours List.

Mr. Hough recently performed on a Yamaha CFX in London's historic Temple Church to raise funds for a key charity of his, Music in Prisons, which promotes the transformative power of the arts to help rehabilitate people who have spent time in prison.

Speaking about the piano, he said " I loved playing this CFX.  It had both wonderful clarity and warmth of sound, but most of all I liked the way I could shape and mould phrases.  Everything lay immediately under the fingers and then extended immediately to the imagination."

Mr. Hough's association with Yamaha's flagship concert grand also extends to the recording studio. His latest CD, In the Night, was recorded on a CFX and he has recently completed a recording of Grieg's Lyric Pieces, which is due for release later this year. BBC Music Magazine said of "In the Night," "Hough's own Sonata proves the high point: its one extended movement is rich in textural variety and harmonic colour, full of massive chunks of sound like sculpted blocks of marble lit from within, and quirky, obsessive toccatas that whirl by like a runaway roundabout that keeps changing direction. It is unsettling, playful and original […] and hearing a masterful pianist performing his own work is a special experience in itself.'"

Find more information about "In the Night" here