Rough Ideas: Reflections on Music and More

ISBN: 0374252548

Author: Hough, Stephen

Condition: New

A collection of essays on music and life by the famed classical pianist and composerStephen Hough is one of the worlds leading pianists, winning global acclaim and numerous awards, both for his concerts and his recordings. He is also a writer, composer, and painter, and has been described by The Economist as one of Twenty Living Polymaths.Hough writes informally and engagingly about music and the life of a musician, from the broader aspects of what it is to walk out onto a stage or to make a recording, to specialist tips from deep inside the practice room: how to trill, how to pedal, how to practice. He also writes vividly about people hes known, places hes traveled to, books hes read, paintings hes seen; and he touches on more controversial subjects, such as assisted suicide and abortion. Even religion is there-the possibility of the existence of God, problems with some biblical texts, and the challenges involved in being a gay Catholic.Rough Ideas is an illuminating, constantly surprising introduction to the life and mind of one of our great cultural figures.