Mirabilis: The Music of Stephen Hough
London Choral Sinfonia, Michael Waldron, conductor
(Orchid Classics)

STEPHEN HOUGH is well known as one of Britain’s finest international concert pianists. Not so well known is the fact that he is also a gifted, important modern classical composer in his own right. 

Playing the piano since the age of six, Hough’s first 20 years were filled with composing. Then followed almost 20 years of blank paper, writing little except concert transcriptions used as encores.

Until, in his early forties, he returned to composition and has since written works for orchestra, choir, chamber ensemble, organ, harpsichord and solo piano, including commissions for the Takacs Quartet, the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet, the Wigmore Hall and the Musee de Louvre. 

The new album celebrates works for choir and organ performed by the London Choral Sinfonia, with organist James Orford and conductor Michael Waldron. At the heart of the album is an exploration of the notion of belief.  

The album opens up with Just As I Am, a short organ choral work based on a poem by Charlotte Elliott written in 1835.

A slow introduction gives way to bursts of up-tempo modern melodic phrasing.

The composer’s intention is to place the soul before a compassionate God in a setting aimed to bring out the sense of ardour which the words suggest. It doesn’t disappoint. The Sinfonia’s commitment and passionate interpretation of Hough is exceptional. 

The main focus of the album is Missa Mirabilis, a 20-minute five-movement work, originally commissioned for Westminster Cathedral Choir. 

The main focus is the Credo where Hough explores aspects of the psychology underlying the nature of belief and doubt.

Speaking ahead of the album’s release, he explained: “I divide the lower and upper voices, as if innocence from experience, and only the former actually sing the word Credo, constantly interrupting the fast-paced mutterings of the tenors and basses.

“What at first is an encouragement to believe becomes a despairing cry as the pattered rote of the lower voices turns into defiant unbelief. 

“Only baptism is declaimed with any sense of conviction, a last hope dashed as the final clauses about resurrection and eternal life fizzle out. A final Credo is sung an octave lower by the upper voices, quietly, as if tired and shattered from their earlier, futile exertion.” 

The Kyrie movement introduces the listener to a gentler, less complex world of forgiveness, where the melodic and harmonic mood is consoling.

The Gloria, joyful in its outer sections, is based on a rising scale and a falling zigzag motif.

The Sanctus and Benedictus aim to contrast the divine and the human, the angelic Holy, Holy, Holy being grand and immense, whereas in the Benedictus God has become human.

The Agnus Dei takes the Credo motive and develops it in plaintive, unaccompanied chords. In parts of Credo the influence of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana shines through to great effect. 

Sonatina for Organ, is two short movements and shows off Hough’s modern approach to solo organ composition.

The opening bar of the first consists of a 12-note row, then another row makes up bar two, slow calm and serious before giving way to lush harmonies and then darting rhythms.

The second movement is a boisterous dance, full of exuberance and joy. Both pieces are equally compelling in the gifted playing of James Orford.

The album ends with a moving rendition of Danny Boy, emotion and passion to the fore.

“Oh Danny boy the pipes, the pipes are calling, from glen to glen,” the choir sing, summoning the spirit of the Scottish Highlands. It is never sentimental, and concludes with a blend of high organ low bass. 

Recorded in St John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church in Islington, north London, over four days in April 2023, the recording has laser-like definition for both choir and organ, capturing the church’s detailed high-frequency response, a rich bass tone and clarity in the mid-range to portray the drama. 

A powerful and deeply affecting album from a composer able to communicate so much melodic and gifted spiritual intent. Hough’s journey in composition has a long and epic voyage ahead.