Kathryn Stott - Five For The Road

Earlier this month, much-loved British pianist Kathryn Stott gave her final recital at the Wigmore Hall, 55 years after she first set foot on the stage there at the age of 10.  The roll-call of people in the audience, including Piers Lane, Stephen Hough, and Lucy Parham, is just a token of the high regard in which she is held - a pianist for whom a love for sharing the music has always been at the centre of her work. 

Kathryn has performed and recorded a vast range of repertoire, making brave choices and premiering new music along the way, and her recordings reflect this. As she brings her performing career to a close whilst continuing to inspire and enthuse new generations of pianists through her teaching, Sony Classical is releasing Merci, the final recording of her long partnership with cellist, Yo-Yo Ma.

I asked Kathryn to pick five recordings from her long career, and to offer a snapshot of what makes them special to her.

I think I really have to start with my first solo album, which was dedicated to piano music of Gabriel Fauré. I remember being very excited at this prospect and also the beginning of my relationship with the Conifer record label. Primarily, it was a very big decision as to what repertoire I would choose, but it was wonderful to feel I had that choice. There were various thoughts going through my head; my incredible love for this music, how many other people were recording Fauré around that time and most importantly, did I feel I had something to say. It turned out to be one of my best decisions, and I later went on to record the complete piano music for Hyperion. 

One of the orchestras I worked with consistently for forty years was the BBC Philharmonic, and so making the shift from recording in their studio for radio to a commercial recording wasn't, on the surface, such a huge one. Chandos asked me to record all four of the Kabalevsky Concertos, and this was no small undertaking, given that myself and the orchestra knew none of them. Despite what had previously been an excellent working relationship with the conductor, we had a small disagreement during the session and things quickly turned sour. I've always been amazed at what was achieved - perhaps the tension in the air gave this an extra je ne sais quoi!

I’ve often collected unusual scores which I’ve delved into from time to time and one of them was Les Heures Persanes by the French composer, Charles Koechlin. The piece musically captures a journey across Persia and condenses what took two and a half days in real time, into an hour. This is music with beautiful exotic flavours, most of the sixteen pieces being subdued and subtle in nuance. Koechlin indicates some passages to be almost inaudible and so the recording process required great patience - perhaps not my strong point! The way Koechlin suspends time for one hour is a magical journey in itself.

When I turned 40, I celebrated by commissioning Graham Fitkin to write a solo piece which would end a recital with a bang. Twenty-five years later, I’m about to end my professional career with what will be my eleventh world premiere! In between all this, was the recording of what I think is one of the most exciting pieces I have ever played.

‘Circuit’ was written for Noriko Ogawa and myself to be played on two pianos with orchestra. When we gave the world premiere in the UK, the roof nearly blew off with audience excitement! This recording was made in Japan and everyone involved worked incredibly hard. It is extremely difficult for all the orchestral musicians, and conductor Naoto Ōtomo was incredibly dedicated to making this a great recording without exhausting everyone in the process. The end result is really thrilling.

The last recording I’m going to choose is my final one and it’s with my colleague of forty years, Yo-Yo Ma. I have curated our last three albums and it has been a very special joy to work on Merci, bringing many musical and personal threads together.

We both had connections to Nadia Boulanger, and as she was a student of Fauré, it seemed absolutely appropriate we celebrate his anniversary and pay tribute to both the Boulanger sisters, Saint-Saëns and Pauline Viardot - all inextricably linked, as we are to each other. Recorded in the USA in April ’24, it was a moving experience to consider this our final album together. As we played the final notes (the last track on the album), it was a very special moment in time that has not only been captured in sound, but as my recording era comes to a close, captured in my heart.