A point of clarity: While “My Favourite Things” is referenced, it is not at the exclusion of other Hough arrangements such as “Hello, Young Lovers” from “The King and I”...

...but what is so greatly appreciated is how charming Hough’s arrangements are to play and to hear.

They are not overly done with unnecessary or tortured pianistic figurations - but one is left with a sense of Hough as a consummate musician, who can distill to its essence the emotional charge of a phrase and overall mood in these miniatures.

These are sonically accessible to any listener and suit very well as encores - but I would suggest they’d make wonderful additions to an actual programme...perhaps the focus of which is American songs specifically or American music in general.

There are some songs to which so many of us, despite age or language, know all the words; “Do, Re, Mi” from “The Sound of Music” and “My Favourite Things” come quickly to mind.

It stands to reason that wherever we find ourselves within proximity to a piano - a nursing home, airport lounge, school band practise room, grandma’s house - somebody may start playing this and someone else is going to start humming and singing along...and at the end be very glad for what we did together. 

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