The work was published the following year (1840). At any rate two years later, during the summer of 1839 (the first of the seven highly productive summers he spent at George Sand’s country estate at Nohant in the French provinces), he wrote a further three movements to complete his Piano Sonata No 2 in B flat minor Op 35. It was shortly after his hopes of marriage to Teresa Wodzinska had been dashed, but perhaps we should be cautious about inferring too much from that. Two years after composing the Op 27 Nocturnes, Chopin wrote a Marche funèbre (1837). In these angst-ridden times, a vital, important work’ (Morning Star) Quietly uplifting and hugely emotional, it offers a chance for reflection and prayer as Hough explores the composition’s notion of stillness and eternity. Arranged by Hough, it’s officially known as the 'Méditation sur le premier prélude de piano de J S Bach' and the musical setting of the Latin text contains one of the most memorable funeral melodies. The album closes with Bach’s and French 19th-century composer Charles Gounod’s Ave Maria. Growing in complexity, it hints at a modern jazz sensibility, the main theme gradually moving down the keyboard before returning to the higher registers in the final moments. A nine-minute piece, it has a melancholic and introspective but melodic drive, starting with a sparse upper register refrain that becomes the heart of the composition. ‘Stephen Hough's new work is a concept album in which themes of life and death are explored in an intellectual master class from one of Britain’s finest pianists … the centre piece of the album is Hough’s own Piano Sonata No 4 ‘Vida breve’ (Short Life).
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