Stephen Hough/Skampa Quartet, Wigmore Hall, London

The artist residencies recently developed by London’s leading recital hall have done it and its public nothing but good. They encourage a handful of distinguished musicians to explore a wish-list of repertoire, thereby stretching their creative personality and shedding light on their collaborative instincts.

We always knew Stephen Hough was a man of many parts – virtuoso pianist, piquant composer, entertaining writer – and the latest instalment of his Wigmore residency showcased another, that of chamber musician. His choice of a popular Czech programme with the pre-eminent Czech string quartet of our day had obvious merits, but no one could have foretold that his short solo opener, Janácek’s E flat minor piano sonata, would be so timely.

Aware that the composer had dedicated it to someone who “died for a just political cause” in a nationalist demonstration in Brno just over a century ago, Hough dedicated his performance to someone who “lived for a just political cause” – the late Václav Havel. Overemphatic treatment of the first movement resulted in a rash of congested textures, as if Hough had four pedals at his disposal instead of two. His gentle touch and tempo in the sonata’s desolate later pages spoke so much more eloquently.

Then to the real business of the evening – the Skampas’ performances of the second Smetana string quartet and, with Hough, of Dvorák’s Piano Quintet in A. The start of the Smetana bespoke something exceptional – a combination of poise and attitude that this inspirational quartet sustained to the end, profiling the music’s angularity and aggression without breaching the bounds of its lyricism. The Skampas are an ensemble in which no member has had to compromise their individuality to be part of a dynamic group – or so it seemed in this gripping, gritty, edge-of-seat performance, straight out of the Bohemian woods.

In the Dvorák, Hough proved himself an honorary Czech, creating a deft rhythmic undertow while dovetailing with his partners in a free flow of ideas and impulses. Some performers give this music a relentless veneer, but Hough and the Skampas made it sound subtle, seamless, songful.

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