Stephen Hough George Tsontakis Ghost Variations (1991) Salzburg Festival 2006

Stephen Hough (piano)
Salzburg Festival 2006
Mozarteum Salzburg Großer Saal 4 August 2006
George Tsontakis (b. 1951) - Ghost Variations (1991):
Ad libitum - Strictly - Languid - Tempo 1 - Mozart Variations [0:03]
Scherzo 1 [11:57]
Scherzo 2 [21:06]
From Stephen Hough's programme notes:
GHOST VARIATIONS
There are two overriding, opposing elements at work in the piece: obsessiveness versus dissipation, clear-sightedness versus hallucination, firm purpose versus aimlessness; a contrast between moments when everything matters, and moments when nothing matters - a Western/Eastern conflict. The search for 'enlightenment' happens here either by obsessive repetition - as if trying to solve a problem by going over it again and again; or by an unravelling process, "becoming muddled" or "doodling" as the composer writes in the score. The work is in three movements and has two harmonic elements which mirror the emotional ones described above - the tritone versus major tonality. Each movement begins with a tritone and ends with a major chord; thus the whole piece does the same, the opening tritone 'G' and 'D flat' resolving to 'A flat' major at the close of the work.
The first movement is in the form of a free fantasy leading up to the 'Mozart Variations'- a theme plus six brief variations, the last of which is repeated. The fantasy section has three distinct musical ideas; a semi-aleatoric section which opens the work like a 'spilling of beans', stopping and starting and gradually intensifying into the second idea, a syncopated triplet fanfare motive. After further intensification, the third idea follows, a “stately" motive of broken chords underpinned by a chorale in open octaves. This chorale blossoms and sheds the broken chords to bloom into a romantically lyrical section. These three ideas are developed with increasing intensity, landing us without warning in the astonishing rococo world of the Mozart theme. This moment is a shock to say the least - should we laugh or not? But as the variations continue we soon realize that this is no laughing matter. The music now has taken on a Beethovenian intensity, the Mozart theme a fragile memory...a ghost; and the movement ends with "blazing" 'B flat' major chords hammering out only the rhythm of the theme.
There follow two scherzos, each of which begins and develops with extraordinary, sometimes manic intensity, yet each ends up breaking down...disintegrating. (Such is the rhythmic excitement of the first scherzo that it literally comes off the rails on the first page, fizzling up the keyboard like a balloon let go before its knot is tied!) Tsontakis, with a neo-Beethovenian brio reminiscent of the latter’s late-period works, takes the decorative form of a scherzo - twice - and makes it the cornerstone of his building. This first scherzo has many jazz and folk elements, from the finger-snapping syncopations of the opening to the finger-plucking strums of the movement's close. However, only the 'skin' is jazz inspired; the 'soul' is too anxious, too frantic, too ready to collapse, both rhythmically and emotionally. The movement ends with simple, quietly plucked chords in the left hand, oblivious of the right hand's piercing dart - too high for a human scream - marked in the score "hollow, into an abyss".
There are only two possibilities after the disintegration of this first scherzo: either give up, or get up and begin again. The latter course is taken here with a vengeance, and the second scherzo is even more charged with frenetic energy than the first. The jazz and folk elements have disappeared, replaced by an asymmetrical tarantella, that symbolic dance of lunacy and delirium. Not only are the triplets of the dance frequently expanded and contracted into fours and twos, but offbeat accents trip up the phrases, leaving us 'on the edge of our feet'. The climax is reached when the quiet, plucked chords from the close of the first scherzo return in full force - "weighty, profound" - forming a 'ground-bass' which continues to the end of the piece. The tarantella, its dancing days over, becomes distorted and fragmented until, with an unexpected surge of energy, it re-emerges in Greek folk disguise as "wild ricochet" for a page-length of abandon. It exhausts itself and, above the omnipresent left-hand chords, the Mozart theme appears again, this time at the top of the instrument. It literally "runs out of keyboard" in its ascent, the final variation played on the wood of the piano-frame - the ghost's first appearance 'in the flesh' as it were. All is unreality, and this Masonic knocking on the door leads the piece into a world we are forbidden to enter. We have reached the threshold...but can go no further.
Copyright: Stephen Hough

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'This disc is an amazing combination of artistic vision, incredible performance skills and curatorial intelligence. Stephen Hough seems to have it all: blazing skill, true artistic vision, adventurous curiosity, and adept style as a commentator. A great piano album and a testament to the love of American music that is expressive and humanistic while remaining open to the challenges of its time' (Fanfare, USA) : This is the result of searching for materials because I am also unfamiliar with the music. Thanks to S.Hough!

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‘Hough's playing is glorious’ (BBC Music Magazine)

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Ｐ𝐫Ｏ𝕞Ｏ𝓢ｍ 😍