Danny Boy – as never heard before
mainA new setting by the pianist and composer Stephen Hough:
Comments
MOST READ TODAY:
-
RIP
Israel mourns formative concertmaster, 99
The revered violinist Haim Taub, concertmaster of the…
-
News
It’s curtains for violin comedians
The Chinese-Australian pair of comedy fiddlers have called…
-
Opera
He changed opera in every corner of the country
In tonight’s Lebrecht Interview on BBCÂ Radio 3,…
-
Why Mahler
Exclusive: US opera company declares bankruptcy
The Syracuse Opera Company has filed for bankruptcy,…
How wonderful is this! We’re all fortunate such creative people are with us. Terrific!!
Here’s another terrific version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQ9W5bxJs3w
Take a breath, mate, and slow down.
Hough’s version is nice, but a little faster than I like.
This is lovely! Stephen is a dear friend of over thirty years, and I have always been in awe of everything he does, at the piano, and in the writing process. As Rachmaninoff has done with his piano concerti, and Earl Wild as well with his fabulous piano concerto, the ‘Doo-dah Variations’ for Piano and Orchestra, I hope the day will come that there will be works for piano and orchestra by Stephen Hough. A “Concerto for Piano and Orchestra” by Stephen Hough. Yes!
Certainly one of the best melodies ever! I still prefer both Grainger settings of it, which are completely different from one another:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF5Bv64PW7Q (The more popular version)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QIez-qXwzg (The very chromatic one!)
Carter Pann has also made a wonderful setting of it for piano, here it is played by the late Joel Hastings:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uH_Q0d0vlEE
Certainly one the most beautiful melodies ever! I still prefer both Grainger settings, which are completely different from each other:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF5Bv64PW7Q (The more popular version)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QIez-qXwzg (The very chromatic version)
Carter Pann made another beautiful settings as well, and here it is performed by the late Joel Hastings:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uH_Q0d0vlEE
Not one to worship everything Jackie Evancho does but her version accompanying a military funeral is tough to outdo.
An even more innovative version, by Simon Wallfisch, singing cellist:
https://youtu.be/j160rwDt-m4
…but does anything really beat the sheer beauty of Bill Evans’ rendition?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5Sg0WGy9YA
I’ll stick with Percy Grainger’s classic
This is the ultimate Danny Boy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sS9xhiudphU
To Jeffrey Biegel: I so agree with your sentiments.
Years ago, I told Earl Wild that the only younger pianists alive who truly embody the romantic tradition that he espoused was both Stephen Hough and Marc-Andre Hamelin. When I first heard Stephen’s masterful and heartfelt transcriptions of the Roger Quilter songs, so many years ago, I was convinced of his ability to follow in the steps of the great Liszt, Rachmaninoff and others who could realize beautiful renditions of old favorites.
Stephen’s compositional gifts go further than transcription but embodies, much like Earl Wild and the aforementioned giants of music, the ability to push the boundaries to realize new pianistic vocabularies to evoke new musical expression and perpectives — always with a razor sharp keen intelligence, probing spirituality and humanity that always includes a wry bit of humor as well! That is Genius! Bravo, Stephen!!
They are indeed. Add Andrew Gentile to that list. His Broadway Album is like the reincarnation of Chopin and Liszt, and he has done some other wonderful arrangements.
Thank you for this Danny Boy anthology.
However, it shouldn’t stay short for these two:
Keith Jarretts’s classic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0osQW5LRhkU
and this haunting rendition from Fargo (music starts at 0:53) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eKo6iL8P68
ANY thing coming from Stephen Hough is good news to the world ! 😉