Mstation Classical Reviews
pre Dec 04 reviews are here
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Mon, 20 Dec 2004
Angela Hewitt - piano Fantasia and Fugue in a minor BWV904 Aria Variata 'alla Maniera Italiana' BWV989 Sonata in D major BWV963 Partie in A major BWV832 Suite in f minor BWV823 Adagio in G major BWV968 Fugue in C major BWV953 Jesu, meine Zuversicht BWV728 Wer nur den lieben Gott laesst walten BWV691 Fantasia and Fugue in a minor BWV944 Recorded in Henry Wood Hall, London on 3-5 February 2004 Hyperion CDA67499 Although she has become somewhat ubiquitous in recent years, one cannot help but admire Angela Hewitt. She has suffered from massive over-exposure (BBC radio 3 being a real culprit in this - if it's Bach, it's Angela) and yet retains integrity as an artist that most who achieve such exposure loose. Hyperion is onto another winner with this disc, the last in Angela's series of Bach keyboard works on this label. There is a particularly interesting aspect to this disc as it presents a selection of the "best of the rest" of J S Bach's works for keyboard. Thus the obvious inclusions are missing leaving a repertoire that is at once fascinating and less well known. Hewitt's performances are always well reasoned and beautifully crafted, her technique being allied to an impeccable sense of musicianship, which enables her to present complex music ideas with apparent ease of clarity. The grandeur inherent in the opening a minor fantasia and the solemnity of the following complex fugue show this balance well. The tempo chosen for the fugue is conservative, but Hewitt makes so much of the individual lines that the feeling of movement is always present. The Aria Variata 'alla Maniera Italiana' BWV989 is not a frequently performed work, and yet it shows clear familial relationships with the larger and better-known Goldberg variations. Hewitt's performance covers almost the same breadth of vision and expression as would be possible in the larger set. Also of great moment in this disc is the performance of the suite in f minor BWV823. This noble work, although only three movements long (a sublime two subject Prelude, and extended Sarabande en Rondeau and a Gigue) provides one of the truly momentous highlights. The Sarabande is performed with a grandeur and scope that compliments the almost austere purity of the prelude. Throughout, Hewitt's distinctively clear touch and careful articulation are everywhere in evidence. This is superb playing of Bach at the piano. If there is a criticism of Hewitt's performances (and it is debatable whether one is needed) it could be the lack of rhetorical flourish in the playing. This harks back to the old piano/harpsichord debate for the performance of Bach's keyboard music, but the harpsichordists of recent generations have made much of the ideas of musical rhetoric - of stylised flourish and maximum contrast. All of this is there in Bach's music without a doubt - rhetoric was the standard language of the 18th century musician - but it could be argued that Hewitt's performances tend towards the goal of beauty of sound and line above the possibility of expression on different levels. In this disc the variety of the programme negates the chance of any sense of monotony, but one wonders how well this same highly polished, but always rather similarly beautiful, sound would fare in a programme of, say, the 48 or the French suites. As it stands, this particular disc, with its wide variety of material, excellent recording and matchlessly flawless piano sound from Hewitt, has to come in as a strongly and easily recommendable release. Here is 67 minutes of beautiful playing, wonderfully well captured, and one can't really ask for more than that. ((c) 2004 Peter Wells) |
