Stephen Hough is used to being solo – both on and off stage. Strolling alone through a side entrance of Dewan Sri Pinang in an unassuming blazer over a plaid shirt, Hough may have been easily mistaken for a visitor or tourist; and while he has played both roles at one time or another in Penang, on that evening of August 24, he was much more.
Hough performed with the Penang Philharmonic Orchestra (PPO), delighting the audience with his interpretation of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3. The lack of an entourage, or indeed even an assistant, is a bit unnerving if one has a hint of the list of extraordinary achievements this British-born maestro has accomplished thus far.
Besides being one of the world’s leading concert pianists, Hough is an accomplished composer and author – his fourth book Rough Ideas: Reflections on Music and More was published around the time of the PPO concert – and has had his paintings exhibited more than a handful of times since his first solo exhibition in 2012; though the latter is something he tends to leave out off his biographies.
