Bach Keyboard Works
A fine musician completes her Bach keyboard journey with a choice selection
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Johann Sebastian Bach
Genre:
Instrumental
Label: Hyperion
Magazine Review Date: 10/2004
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 68
Mastering:
Stereo
DDD
Catalogue Number: CDA67499
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Fantasia and Fugue |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Angela Hewitt, Piano Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer |
Aria variata |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Angela Hewitt, Piano Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer |
Sonata |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Angela Hewitt, Piano Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer |
Suite |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Angela Hewitt, Piano Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer |
Adagio |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Angela Hewitt, Piano Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer |
Fugue |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Angela Hewitt, Piano Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer |
Choral Preludes from the Kirnberger Collection, Movement: Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten, BWV691 |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Angela Hewitt, Piano Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer |
Chorale Preludes, Movement: Jesus, meine Zuversicht, BWV728 |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Angela Hewitt, Piano Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer |
Author: Nalen Anthoni
Miscellaneous Bach, but Angela Hewitt isn’t scraping the bottom of the barrel. On the contrary, she has selected what appeals to her – pieces from ‘different periods of Bach’s life on this, the last planned CD of solo keyboard works’. Hewitt largely bows out on a high. The degree of preciosity that had crept into her playing of the English Suites has been eradicated, and her musicianship is of the stature that we have come to expect from a thoughtful artist.
A profound one, too, as her interpretation of the Adagio, BWV968, readily shows. This is a transcription (if not by Bach, possibly by his son Wilhelm Friedemann) of the first movement of the unaccompanied Violin Sonata in C major. It is, as Hewitt says, ‘a strange and beautiful work’ and she extols its qualities through a sustained line and lambent sonority. A similarly thoughtful attitude pays equal dividends in the Suite BWV823; the Prelude and Sarabande are introspective, the Gigue graceful yet sharply rhythmic, and the interpretation is enhanced by the attention paid to the importance of the left hand.
Given the positive virtues that abound, it is puzzling to hear the Fugues BWV953 and 944 played in a detached manner. The tempi are well chosen, yet the expectations raised by Hewitt’s own descriptions ‘in joyous mood’ and ‘whirlwind moto perpetuo’ respectively are not met. Still, it is the only lapse in a series of performances where freedom over articulation, phrasing, embellishment, dynamics and tempo is governed by an artistic sense of responsibility; and the whole recital is heard in a shrewdly balanced recording of fine tonal verisimilitude.
A profound one, too, as her interpretation of the Adagio, BWV968, readily shows. This is a transcription (if not by Bach, possibly by his son Wilhelm Friedemann) of the first movement of the unaccompanied Violin Sonata in C major. It is, as Hewitt says, ‘a strange and beautiful work’ and she extols its qualities through a sustained line and lambent sonority. A similarly thoughtful attitude pays equal dividends in the Suite BWV823; the Prelude and Sarabande are introspective, the Gigue graceful yet sharply rhythmic, and the interpretation is enhanced by the attention paid to the importance of the left hand.
Given the positive virtues that abound, it is puzzling to hear the Fugues BWV953 and 944 played in a detached manner. The tempi are well chosen, yet the expectations raised by Hewitt’s own descriptions ‘in joyous mood’ and ‘whirlwind moto perpetuo’ respectively are not met. Still, it is the only lapse in a series of performances where freedom over articulation, phrasing, embellishment, dynamics and tempo is governed by an artistic sense of responsibility; and the whole recital is heard in a shrewdly balanced recording of fine tonal verisimilitude.
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