Pianist Stephen Hough Featured in New iPad App LISZT: SONATA IN B MINOR

British pianist and MacArthur Fellow Stephen Hough has joined with Touch Press, the developers of such iPad apps as The Wasteland, The Elements, Beethoven's 9th Symphony and The Orchestra, to create Liszt: Sonata in B Minor available from Apple for download today (link: http://bit.ly/16ulIfJ). The app is designed for the iPad 2 and more recent models of the iPad, and is available on iTunes for $13.99. Released in time for Mr. Hough's appearance at the Opening Night of the 2013 BBC Proms, the app allows an in-depth study of the Liszt Piano Sonata in B minor complete with state-of-the-art high-definition video and interactive digital elements. View a preview of the app here.

Mr. Hough said, "When Touch Press asked me to be part of their series I immediately thought that the Liszt Sonata would be the perfect vehicle. It combines head and heart: brilliantly, rigorously, originally constructed, it is a flawless piece of musical architecture; but then it also moves the listener emotionally from the first heartbeats in the first bar, through the monumental emotional struggle in the middle, to the final, restful descent into the grave."

At the center of the Liszt: Sonata in B Minor app is Mr. Hough's performance of the complete sonata, recorded on three high definition cameras. Users have the option to follow the performance with a digital score as well as listen to Mr. Hough's commentary as he guides the listeners through the performance providing a musicological analysis as well as personal interpretive insight. The app also includes text written by Charlotte Gardner giving a brief illustrated history of the piece and its composer. A series of video interviews with Mr. Hough supplements the work, allowing for even further exploration into the sonata.

Mr. Hough said, "What's so remarkable about these music apps is that they combine hearing the music with seeing the performer with exploring the piece. And they are not just a passive experience like a film: they allow you, require you to dig inside, to explore, almost to be part of the process itself. It's an electronic coffee table book, but one in which you are in control of the percolator. This app enables the listener (viewer, collaborator) to get inside the inner workings of the piece, both to see what the composer was creating as well as know what the performer is thinking. It's like a personal guided tour of a great castle, keys to every room, access to every secret."

Over the course of his career Stephen Hough has distinguished himself as a true polymath, not only securing a reputation as a uniquely insightful concert pianist but also as a writer and composer. Winner of a Royal Philharmonic Society Award, a MacArthur Fellowship, eight Gramophone Awards and several Grammy nominations, Mr. Hough has performed with most leading orchestras in the world at the most prestigious concert halls. In 2013, Mr. Hough has given recitals at New York's Carnegie Hall, London's Barbican Centre, and will open the 2013 BBC Proms playing Rachmaninov and Lutoslawski in a 'live' BBC telecast. During Liszt's Bicentenary year in 2012, Mr. Hough's recording of the Liszt Sonata was named BBC Radio 3 'Building a Library' top recommendation. The same recording was also chosen by Fred Child and Ted Libbey as the top recommendation for NPR's weekly guide to 'Essential Classics - Liszt: Surmounting the Ultimate Piano Sonata.'

Many diverse talents make Touch Press a reality. The founding team brings together several renowned individuals-who collectively represent decades of experience in publishing, software development, media production and interaction design. Books are one of the defining inventions of the civilization-and today they are poised for a revolution. Touch Press aims to create a new kind of book that makes use of emerging technology to redefine the book, reinvent publishing, and forever transform the act of reading.

To post a comment, you must register and login.