Angela Hewitt LOVE SONGS

 

LOVE SONGS

 

Angela Hewitt BACH The Six Partitas

                                                                 THE SIX PARTITAS

Angela Hewitt BEETHOVEN Piano Sonatas Op. 27 No. 1 - Op. 31 No. 2 - Op. 79 - Op. 109

This latest instalment of Angela Hewitt’s Beethoven is bookended by the great ‘Tempest’ and Op 109 sonatas. The performances—incentive enough to acquire this release—are as usual complemented by Angela’s own booklet notes which provide real insight into how she approaches these masterworks.

Angela Hewitt DOMENICO SCARLATTI Sonatas

Angela Hewitt has chosen 17 of Domenico Scarlatti’s super-abundant keyboard sonatas (he wrote more than 550) to create a second engaging recital following her 2015 volume. Again, she has cleverly organised her selection into satisfying subgroups linked by key and mood. We begin in declamatory mode with the theatrical sonata in D major Kk491 followed by the sultry Iberian flavours of Kk492 and Kk146 and so on. In another group, we hear sonatas Kk63 and Kk64, chosen to encourage amateur players to try this sparkling and inventive repertoire and yet another reason to admire this most accomplished of pianists. (Stephen Pritchard / The Guardian)

Recording a first album of Sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti in February 2015 was such a great experience that, inevitably, I couldn’t stop there. Not with another 540 or so to choose from! It wasn’t easy to select seventeen for this second recording, simply because there are so many wonderful ones—but perhaps the pleasure was even greater than the first time as many of them were new to my repertoire.

The more I read about Domenico Scarlatti, the more I realize how little we know about him. Often key events in a composer’s life give clues to the interpretation of a work. That hardly applies in the case of Scarlatti.

What I do find is that by playing not just a few but many of his sonatas, and especially in public (because, at least for me, they gain an extra dimension in performance), the more you start to comprehend what exactly makes this music so appealing, so unique, so dazzling. (Angela Hewitt)

Angela Hewitt / Valérie Hartmann-Claverie / Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra / Hannu Lintu MESSIAEN Turangalîla-Symphonie

With the growing number of performances and recordings, Olivier Messiaen's Turangalîla-symphonie has become his best-known orchestral work and something of a hit, if such an expansive and influential work can be narrowly categorized as such. Cast in ten movements for piano, ondes Martenot (an instrument similar to the theremin), and large orchestra, with many recurring themes and motives, Turangalîla-symphonie is a cyclic meditation inspired by Indian mysticism, as suggested by the composite title, which Messiaen translated as, "All at the same time song of love, hymn to joy, time, movement, rhythm, life, and death." This performance by Hannu Lintu and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, featuring Angela Hewitt on piano and Valérie Hartmann-Claverie on ondes Martenot, is an excellent presentation, full of vibrant sonorities and vigorous playing, all captured in Ondine's spacious multichannel recording. The hybrid SACD format offers the best way to appreciate Turangalîla, because the massive orchestra should be heard with all its parts distinctly separated, rather than as a thick, homogenous mass, and this recording brings great clarity to all the moving parts. But even more important than the internal details are the shockingly vivid tone colors, which are among the most exciting in 20th century orchestral music. In this area, Lintu draws out the most sharply defined sounds, and pays special attention to Messiaen's lush string and wind textures and sharply accented percussion. Highly recommended to newcomers and Messiaen aficionados alike. (Blair Sanderson)

Angela Hewitt plays MESSIAEN

Angela Hewitt writes …
The music of Olivier Messiaen immediately attracts our attention with its rhythm, variety of colour, technical brilliance, energy, joy, and spirituality. It is incredibly well written for the instrument, even though its difficulties may deter many a player. Audiences are rarely indifferent to it, and for many it has a very powerful effect.

The Préludes were written when Messiaen was about 20 and are remarkable pieces for one so young. They were premiered in 1931. The two 'Islands of Fire' are from his Quatre Études de rythme from 1950 and are dedicated to Papua New Guinea. Messiaen states that his themes are characterized 'by the violence of the magic rites of that country'. He wrote Vingt Regards ('Twenty Contemplations of the Child Jesus') for his wife Yvonne Loriod. In it he uses the piano like an orchestra, demanding a huge range of dynamics, attacks, and timbres.

For this recording my wish was not only to present my favourite works by Messiaen, but also to give the listener an idea of the development of his writing—all on a single disc. (Hyperion)

'Playing of the highest polish. Fastidiously balanced chords, every detail clear and clean. Rarely, if ever, can Messiaen's piano music have been played with such refinement' (Classic CD)

'Very fine' (Gramophone)

Angela Hewitt BEETHOVEN Piano Sonatas Op.14 No. 1 - Op. 49 Nos. 1 & 2 - Op. 31 No. 1 - Op. 81a

Angela Hewitt leaves few stones unturned in projecting the linear specificity of Beethoven’s style. In Op 31 No 1’s first movement, for example, you’ll rarely find the left-hand second subject and the sequential right-hand patterns so logically contoured. No doubt Hewitt’s authority in Bach informs her sophisticated articulation of the Adagio grazioso’s elaborate ornaments (note her fastidiously calibrated trills), achieved with minimum pedal and maximum finger control. For my taste, Hewitt’s Allegretto is a tad deliberate and fussy, whereas Jonathan Biss matches her intricate workmanship in faster, more humorous terms. Hewitt’s subtle timbral distinctions between detached and sustained passages throughout Op 14 No 1 bring Beethoven’s wonderful string quartet arrangement of this sonata to mind.

Hewitt lavishes similar care over the modest Op 49 sonatas. She brings a winsome lilt to No 1’s finale which makes up for its sedate tempo. If she holds back in No 2’s Allegro ma non troppo (here I prefer François-Frédéric Guy’s robust animation), her steadfast legato/détaché differentiation in the Menuetto is attractively deadpan.

One can hardly fault Hewitt’s suave execution or her meticulous voice-leading and dynamic shadings in Les adieux’s first movement, although I miss the forward impetus and outward joy conveyed by Ivan Moravec and Solomon. Many pianists put the slow movement in freeze-frame but Hewitt treats it like the classical Andante it is, making expressive points through touch and colour. After pouncing into the Rondo’s whirling introduction, she seemingly settles back when the movement’s main theme commences. Yet her biting accents, strong left-hand presence and shapely downward scales assiduously gather momentum and drive. In other words, Hewitt is a sleek cougar next to Artur Schnabel’s scruffy lion! As always, her annotations show her to be equally articulate and accessably erudite away from the keyboard. I look forward to her cycle’s 10 remaining sonatas. (Gramophone)

Angela Hewitt JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH Goldberg Variations

Hewitt's remake for Hyperion deploys her personal Fazioli concert grand. The instrument's hair-trigger response to note attacks and release yields complex hues that contrast with the rounder, relatively uniform sonorities of the beautiful Steinway featured on Hewitt's 1999 recording (4/00). More importantly, the pianist's enviable polyphonic acumen and dance-orientated conception continue to operate at full capacity, albeit on a deeper and subtler level, as comparative listening reveals.

As they say, the devil is in the details. For example, Hewitt tosses off Var 5's challenging cross-handed leaps more playfully, tempers Var 6's erstwhile fluctuations with greater expressive economy and allows Var 7's dialogue to flourish. Note, too, her nimbler dispatch of the Fughetta and the canon at the fourth (Var 12). By contrast, Var 19's heightened polyphony and slower tempo impart extra gravitas to the music's quasi-minuet character. Hewitt's octave doublings in Var 29 are grander and heftier, with closer attention to the cascading passagework's bass-lines.

Perhaps differences between Hewitt I and Hewitt II emerge most tellingly in the slower variations, including those three in the minor mode. Var 15 remains brisk and steady as before but the canonic voices now take on sharper focus as Hewitt follows through each line to its final destination.

The tender, yielding Var 21 of 1999 contrasts with a new-found urgency. In the celebrated 'Black Pearl', Var 25. Hewitt embarks on an intricate and thoughtful journey; earlier he pursued a less inflected more direct path. However, the way that Hewitt ravishingly fuses elasticity of line and eloquent proportion in the aria-like Var 13 is worth the price of admission, at any cost. It is piano playing for the ages. (Gramophone)

Angela Hewitt DOMENICO SCARLATTI Sonatas

This is Angela Hewitt’s first foray into Scarlatti on disc but she hopes there will be more. Sixteen down…539 to go! The ones we have here have been thoughtfully programmed so each is heard to the best advantage. Her booklet-notes are personal and engaging and, as ever, she wears her learning lightly.

With so much experience playing music of the Baroque, you’d expect something highly personal from Hewitt. Even in a sonata as well known as the lilting Kk9, we hear it afresh, with no turn of phrase going unconsidered. In the bustling Kk159, replete with horn calls, she reveals as much interest in the inner parts as in the outer ones.

Comparisons with other pianists are fascinating because they show how many different interpretative approaches these pieces can take. Hewitt’s view of Kk69 is relatively spacious, Romantic almost; Anne Queffélec is quite a bit faster here; but then turn to Marcelle Meyer and it’s quicker still, with an inevitability to her beautifully moulded lines.

Or try Kk87 in B minor—one of Scarlatti’s most poignant sonatas. Hewitt reveals its Palestrina-esque elements, while Pletnev shapes its lines with great freedom. In the same key, Kk27 is one of Scarlatti’s greatest sonatas, and Hewitt lays bare every detail, though to my mind Queffélec is the more instinctive musician, though that’s true of Sudbin too.

The main issue I have with Hewitt here is that I’m too aware of her musical decision-making, which seems to lie on the surface of her interpretations rather than being concealed. The other caveat is that when Scarlatti is at his most outlandishly demanding, you’re too aware of the fact. Repeated notes on the piano are, as Hewitt points out, a nightmare: those in the anarchic Kk141, for instance, are too audibly tricky; Pletnev makes them sound almost annoyingly easy.

Among the less common pieces, Kk140, with its unusual harmonic shifts, sudden silences and fanfares, is a gem and its shifts are well captured by Hewitt. I’m less persuaded by her drawn-out tempo for the profoundly melancholy Kk109, though, as she says, it’s the only one in the 555 marked Adagio. And while Kk380, which ends the CD, sounds regal in Hewitt’s hands, it acquires a touchingly wistful quality in those of Meyer. (Gramophone)

Angela Hewitt BEETHOVEN Piano Sonatas Op. 2 No. 2 - Op. 10 No. 1 - Op. 78 - Op. 110

Angela Hewitt has been much praised in her earlier recordings of Beethoven’s piano sonatas—displaying ‘exquisite taste’—and now turns her ‘uncluttered clarity of thought and inspired structural pacing’ to four more works spanning the composer’s career. As ever, Angela’s accompanying notes provide fascinating insights into both the music and her performances.

As with previous instalments in Angela Hewitt’s near-complete Beethoven cycle, this fifth volume, for the most part, offers interpretations characterised by intelligent virtuosity and cultivated artistry. No detail in Op 2 No 2’s Allegro vivace transpires unnoticed. The broken octaves and rapid up beat flourishes couldn’t be clearer, although the movement’s brash undercurrents best reveal themselves when Hewitt points up the development section’s witty motivic repartee. Her elegantly unfolding Scherzo and grazioso Rondo movements (the latter contains just a hint of the ‘traditional’ swan-dive most pianists impose upon the opening measure’s three high E naturals) splits the difference between Pollini’s stylish understatement and Kovacevich’s genial inflections. The Largo appassionato stands out for Hewitt’s superb clarification of Beethoven’s part-writing and her ability to differentiate the composer’s tenuto and staccato markings while consistently maintaining a full-bodied sonority with little help from the sustain pedal—obviously her long experience with Bach is an asset here!

Similar qualities distinguish Hewitt’s eloquently sustained Op 10 No 1 Adagio molto, while her astute (if ever-so-slightly studied) observance of the first movement’s sharp dynamic contrasts and rarely heeded rests illuminates the music’s intense profile. As much as I admire pianists who grab on to the finale’s Prestissimo directive and run away with it (Glenn Gould, for example), Hewitt’s relatively reined-in yet resolutely steady pace allows for shapely fast scales and dynamic shading of the repeated notes. In the little Op 78, Hewitt doesn’t quite catch fire in the opening movement, mainly because she tends to telegraph the subito pianos with small pauses, while the Allegro vivace ambles rather than sprints, and the fast major/minor shifts lack a sense of surprise.

Happily, everything comes together for Hewitt in a most inspired Op 110. It abounds with long-lined breadth, careful dynamic scaling, assiduously worked-out tempo relationships and heartfelt poetry. In particular, the finale’s fugal textures convey uncommon vocal distinction and a sense of air between the notes (thanks, again, to Hewitt’s Bachian expertise). I’d go so far as to say that Hewitt’s Op 110 alone is worth the price of this disc, and easily takes its place alongside great versions by Hess, Arrau, Petri, Hungerford and a curiously underrated EMI release with Awadagin Pratt. (Gramophone)

Angela Hewitt BEETHOVEN Piano Sonatas Op. 22 -Op. 31 No. 3 - Op. 101

Angela Hewitt presents a fourth volume in her acclaimed series of Beethoven’s piano sonatas, which has delighted her fans worldwide.

The little-known Sonata in B flat major, Op 22, the last of Beethoven’s ‘early’ sonatas, is recorded alongside Op 31 No 3 (sometimes known as ‘La chasse’, or ‘The Hunt’, because of its tumultuous Presto con fuoco finale). The album is concluded with Op 101, of which the journalist for the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung in Leipzig wrote: ‘Truly, here in his 101st composition admiration and renewed respect take hold of us, when we wander along strange, never trodden paths with the great painter of the soul’, going on to enthuse about the most beautiful colours and pictures in Beethoven’s new Piano Sonata.

Hewitt’s uncluttered clarity of thought and inspired structural pacing pay even greater dividends in the glorious A major Sonata Op 101 (No 28). Hewitt captures its mood of glowing contentment to perfection, climaxing in a fugally inflected finale of exultant profundity. Hewitt’s approach recaptures the sense of wonderment experienced by the composer’s contemporaries. Not since the great Hans Richter-Haaser has a pianist produced Beethoven playing of such trance-like purity and vision. It’s been three years since we had the last instalment in this series (this is volume four)—let's hope we don’t have to wait as long for the next' (Sinfini.com)

Angela Hewitt / National Arts Centre Orchestra MOZART Piano Concertos No. 22 - No. 24

Replete with all the Angela Hewitt virtues—among them, unfailing clarity, innate elegance, an unerring sense of proportion, a finely honed mastery of style, melodic finesse and an unobtrusive grasp of harmonic rhythm—these are exemplary performances. Stylistically, they are very much of their time, falling midway between the 'Beethovenian', 'revisionist' tendency of the mid-20th century, repudiating the earlier essentially miniaturist 'Dresden China' tradition, and the sometimes rather antiseptic, musicologically-'enlightened' approach of the century's final third. The prevailing tonal palette, from soloist and orchestra alike, is appropriately lean but always beautifully focused and elegantly applied. Operatic in the best sense, Hewitt is more concerned with dialogue, not only between the two hands but within all levels of the texture, than with conventional notions of 'vocal' cantabile.

But what finally renders Mozart's operas supreme (and I maintain, loosely, that he never wrote anything but opera) is not the matchless subtlety and characterisation of the dialogue, but the continuous development of the individual characters and the relationships between them. What I most miss here, and I recognise that I may be in a small minority, is precisely that feeling of development, which necessarily relies on vivid and varied characterisation in the first palce. I feel this throughout, though never more so than in the C minor Concerto, especially the slow movement, where the uniquely Mozartian tension between harmonically loaded melody and the essentially neutral, often near-static nature of metre is spoiled by an excessive sense of symmetry. (BBC Music Magazine)

Angela Hewitt FRANZ LISZT Piano Sonata - Dante Sonata - Petrarch Sonnets

Elegant and immaculate in both musicianship and platform wardrobe, the pianist Angela Hewitt doesn't immediately rush to mind when considering the wild music of Liszt. Well-ordered Bach is more her cup of tea. She's equally a natural in the piquant French delights of Ravel and Debussy. Yet here she is, with an album of Liszt, Liszt and Liszt.

The first paragraph in her programme note doesn't exactly bode well: 'After hearing the Liszt Sonata as a teenager, I came away thinking what an awful piece it was. It just seemed a vehicle for banging the piano.' That's my point: I can't even imagine Hewitt banging a door, still less a concert grand. She thinks differently now, or so she says she calls this big B minor sonata masterful and thrilling. Yet probably a secret residue of teenage distaste remains: she certainly stays determinedly fastidious throughout the work's fortissimo thunder or the Dante fantasy's mad ride to hell  …

Even if her approach sometimes rubs against the music's grain, the poise and clarity of her textures and phrasings still brings major pleasures. She elucidates the B minor sonata's structural subtleties and balances its boarding power with scintillating details like the silver arpeggios circling round the second subject about nine minutes in. In the three Petrarch sonnets, the kaleidoscope of emotions is exquisitely traced. If only she could enjoy Liszt's flamboyance more: I'd almost buy this album for the piano's numerous dying notes, reverberating long and exquisitely toward the end of time. (Geoff Brown /The Times)

Daniel Müller-Schott / Angela Hewitt BACH Gamba Sonatas

With performances as intellectual as they are musical, Daniel Müller-Schott and Angela Hewitt unite to produce a very worthwhile rendition of the Bach Gamba Sonatas. Hewitt, already an esteemed interpreter of Bach who has performed or recorded the complete works for solo keyboard, branches out here in a collaborative effort. All of her skills as an interpreter of Bach's solo works are indispensable here as the Gamba Sonatas are truly a collaboration of equals. Her touch is light and graceful without seeming timid or weak. The soloistic nature of her right hand brilliantly matches both the sound and temperament of Müller-Schott, and her accompanimental left hand is steady and elegant. Although Müller-Schott's release of the six unaccompanied Bach suites is a welcome contribution to the field, he is not known as much as a Bach interpreter as his colleague. Still, through self-proclaimed study and investigation, he presents a very satisfying blend of a Baroque sound and right-arm articulation on a modern instrument. In many ways, his playing is reminiscent of Anner Bylsma, but with a more focused core to his sound. In addition to the three gamba sonatas of the senior Bach, this album also includes the much more virtuosic and showy D major Sonata of C.P.E. Bach. Coupled with the wonderful playing, listeners are also treated to an excellent set of liner notes making this album a very wise choice. (Mike D. Brownell)

Angela Hewitt BACH The Art of Fugue

Two mature pianists, both renowned for their Bach interpretations and with numerous acclaimed recordings to their names—but both of whom, until now, have fought shy of Bach’s final, uncompromisingly contrapuntal masterpiece. In the booklet notes with their respective new recordings, Angela Hewitt and Zhu Xiao-Mei both admit to having put off the inevitable: coming to terms with The Art of Fugue.

Unlike the rest of the established Bach keyboard repertoire, The Art of Fugue’s scoring is ambiguous, each line written out on a separate stave. For the first edition published in 1751, a year after Bach’s death, his son Carl Philipp Emanuel is clear: ‘everything has ... been arranged for use at the harpsichord or organ’—yet it has been argued that the occasional awkward leap means the work is not fully renderable on a keyboard (opening the door to some highly effective performances by all manner of instrumental ensembles). Interestingly, though, neither Hewitt nor Xiao-Mei cites this as a reason f or her lack of enthusiasm for the task.

With its intensely concentrated and complex fugal writing, and devoid of the light relief provided by the preludes in The Well-Tempered Clavier, it is easy to see why The Art of Fugue can appear, in Hewitt’s words, severe, daunting and completely overwhelming, even to musicians like her and Xiao-Mei who live and breathe Bach. Hewitt says she needed ‘great determination’ to get to grips with a work which had never excited her very much on account of its perceived dryness, and once she had finally set to work on it in 2012, its technical complexity made the Goldberg Variations and The Well-Tempered Clavier ‘seem like child’s play in comparison’; Xiao-Mei ‘has never suffered so much when practising a work’, such are its emotional and physical demds—'I was sore all over’.

We can only be thankful that they persevered. Each pianist brings her considerable experience and expertise to bear, meeting the work’s formidable challenges with individual, complementary performances. Both, in their different ways, are deeply musical, finding satisfying and engaging solutions to a potentially unpalatable 72 (Xiao-Mei) to 84 (Hewitt) minutes’ worth of fugues and canons in a single key, D minor, all based on a single portentous theme.

Hewitt’s account, characteristically, is clean and precise but always pianistic—she never seems, like some pianists, to be imitating a harpsichord, whereas her delicate touch means that the music is not burdened with undue heaviness. Her ‘Contrapunctus 2’, for example, dances with (relatively) carefree abandon. Hewitt is fluent and homogenous, her effective expressive and dynamic contrasts made subtly within an overarching, unifying concept, solemn but not overbearing.

Xiao-Mei is more robust, and more extreme in terms of dynamics. In her hands the austere fugal theme often grabs attention from within the texture with prominent weight (occasionally too forcibly), but this is tempered with flowing gentleness—the opening of ‘Contrapunctus 3’ and the ‘Canon alla decima in contrapunto alla terza’, for example, softly caress the ears. Xiao-Mei is consistently faster too, but she never feels rushed or perfunctory (just as Hewitt never feels too indulgent—perhaps proving that The Art of Fugue stands outside usual measures of time). A direct comparison with the piece in which the two versions differ most widely duration-wise—‘Contrapunctus 11’ (5'30" against 7'03")—reveals Hewitt to be dreamy and possibly a shade pedantic, while Xiao-Mei is alert and forthright, taking the bull by the horns. Both versions work in the context of their respective wholes.

To maximise the variety, Xiao-Mei intersperses the 14 ‘Contrapunctus’ fugues with the ‘Canons’, which, in the score, follow; Hewitt plays everything in published order. In both versions, ‘Contrapunctus 14’—by far the longest of the fugues—is cut off abruptly in its prime, unfinished as Bach left it. It’s an arresting conclusion—a powerful reminder of mortality following such ethereal music—but for those who need closure, Hewitt offers the chorale prelude BWV668a, which C. P. E. Bach inserted on the last blank page of the score, as a cathartic final track. This is especially fitting for a performance, recorded at the Jesus-Christus Church in Berlin, which, despite its clear textures, is above all contemplative and other- worldly. Xiao-Mei, recorded at the Leipzig Gewandhaus’s Mendelssohn Hall, and also well defined, is more exciting and more alive, gripping where Hewitt is entrancing.

Both versions, highly recommendable, have much to offer. If your budget will stretch only to one (both are full price—Hewitt’s comes on two CDs for the price of one), I would edge towards Xiao-Mei for the vitality she brings to potentially prosaic music—heavenly, yes, but also very human. It’s a personal choice, though—both views of the work are valid, and you won’t go wrong with either. (International Record Review)

Angela Hewitt / Hannu Lintu / Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin SCHUMANN Piano Concerto

I’m not entirely sure which recording it was of the Schumann Piano Concerto in A minor it was I listened to about 900 times while tackling the work’s analytical nuances for O Level exams in the UK in the early 1980s, but there have been so many recordings since it hardly matters. One new one I’ve heard recently is that with Sophie Pacini on the Onyx label, and this makes a nice comparison with Angela Hewitt’s Hyperion release as the differences are so palpable. Pacini is urgent and dramatic in the Allegro affetuoso first movement, exploring the poetry of the gentler moments with probing notes which highlight each harmonic progression. Hewitt on the other hand is, dare I say it, less old fashioned. Her approach seeks the flow in the music, obtaining a legato in those accompanying moments where the orchestra takes the lead and adding texture rather than making musical points. The superb balance between piano and orchestra allows this to happen naturally and with an easy grace which is a sheer delight. Hewitt lingers lovingly at the chamber music moments in this movement and, while more drama might be achieved at such points, her contrasts are greater as a result - the rhythm of repose and triumphant thematic elevation beautifully proportioned.
Proportion is an important buzzword in Hewitt’s Schumann. She holds plenty back, but always for a reason. That solo passage from 4:36 might seem a bit too reserved, the tempo too static, but did you ever hear that clarinet entry at 5:35 quite so movingly? All of those essential little tonal and timbral brushstrokes are expressed to perfection, and the drama at 6:06 is all the greater for that minute and a half of suspended expectation. With Hewitt, and of course the superb instrumental weighting brought out by Hannu Lintu, you hear the ‘Bach’ in Schumann as well as the turbulent romanticism. That main theme never sounded quite so much like a Bach chorale than here, and there are little moments all over the place where, if your associative baggage allows it, a penny or more will drop and an ‘ah…’ moment will occur where it probably hadn’t before with other recordings. 

I wasn’t entirely uncritical of Angela Hewitt’s solo Schumann programme from Hyperion, but have few if any such reservations in this piano/orchestra release. Her next release in the Mozart concertos series will also be conducted by Hannu Lintu, and so also promises to be something more than a bit special. This Schumann release, complete with excellent booklet notes by the soloist and its strikingly atmospheric Caspar David Friedrich illustration for the cover, is highly desirable and extremely rewarding. (Dominy Clements, MusicWeb International)

Angela Hewitt BEETHOVEN Piano Sonatas Op 10 No 2 - Op 26 - Op 27 No 2 "Moonlight" - Op 90

Sometimes an unusual interpretive approach or seldom noticed details signify that the performer in question is following the composer's score rather than adhering to interpretive tradition. That's certainly true regarding Angela Hewitt and Beethoven's so-called "Funeral March" sonata. The first-movement variations stand out for the pianist's seamless tempo relationships, timbral diversity, and characterful distinctions between legato and detached phrases. Her dynamism and razor-sharp linear interplay fuse equal doses of excitement and control in the Scherzo, which leaves Paul Lewis' dainty deliberation back at the starting gate. The Funeral March is steady and stern, while by contrast Hewitt's agogic stresses in the Allegro finale help clarify the busy textures' part-writing and cross-rhythmic grammar.
Hewitt allows similar leeway in the F major Op. 10 No. 2 first-movement exposition, animating the music with stinging yet never obtrusive accents and thrusting left-hand accompaniments. Hewitt's subtle balances in the Allegretto evoke the give and take of a seasoned string quartet, although she's a little too cool and careful in the Presto finale compared to, say, Richard Goode's tauter, more playful abandon.
I've no qualms about Hewitt's sensitive, technically impressive Op. 90, except that the tiny expressive holdbacks in the first movement's soft-echoed phrases pull focus from the main theme's implicit alla breve continuity (Moravec is right on the money here). On the other hand, her flexibility and lyrical warmth give shape and dimension to the "Moonlight" sonata's hackneyed Adagio sostenuto. If only I could morph her superb articulation and dynamic scaling in the second and third movements with her label-mate Steven Osborne's brisker, more incisive tempos. As always, Hewitt provides her own informative and well-written annotations. (Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com)

Angela Hewitt BEETHOVEN Piano Sonatas Op 13 "Pathétique" - Op 28 "Pastoral" - Op 2 No 3

Angela Hewitt is widely acknowledged as one of the great pianists of the age. Gramophone Artist of the Year in 2006 and the recent subject of a week-long artist focus on BBC Radio 3, her frenetic concert schedule and expanding discography bear testimony to her extraordinary talent and energy.
Hewitt’s legion of fans will be delighted at this eagerly awaited second volume of Beethoven sonatas. Her first release in this series was fulsomely praised for its ‘clarity, intelligence and elegance’ … ‘fusing poetry and passion’, and all these trademark qualities of her playing are fully present in this second disc.
Angela presents three very different works here, written within a period of seven years: the enchanting ‘Pastoral’ Sonata Op 28, the monumental ‘Pathétique’ Op 13 and the dazzling early masterpiece Op 2 No 3. Her interpretations are vividly personal, yet the voice of the composer speaks clearly throughout.

Angela Hewitt BEETHOVEN Piano Sonatas Op 57 "Appassionata" - Op 10 No 3 - Op 7

Angela Hewitt's first instalment in a projected Beethoven sonata cycle for Hyperion offers intelligent, stylish and often illuminating interpretations. The contrapuntal acumen she regularly brings to Bach suits Beethoven's linear trajectory, as borne out by Hewitt's astute (yet never fussy) care over inner voices and bass-lines. She takes Beethoven's characteristic dynamic contrasts on faith but not to extreme, discontinuous ends, while her ear for uncovering melodic outlines of rapid arpeggios ensures that these figurations don't sound "notey". In addition, Hewitt's strong left hand lends uncommon clarity and direction to passages such as the double notes in Op 10 No 3's first movement, or the motoric sequences 208" into Op 7's Rondo. Occasional telltale signs of pre-planning include Hewitt's tendency to hesitate a split second before Beethoven's trademark subito pianos, thereby softening one's sense of surprise. I also think her protracted treatment of Op 10 No 3's Largo would have benefited from Claudio Arrau's gravitas and sustaining power. Fusing poetry and passion, Hewitt lets her long hair down and her fingers run wild in the Appassionata's first movement. She continues with a brisk and well unified account of the central variations, and suffuses her powerful, headlong finale with cutting accents and perceptive modifications of the basic pulse. The Fazioli piano's lean bass and bright treble characterise the kind of timbral differentiation one often associates with instruments of Beethoven's time. (Jed Distler / Gramophone, November 2006)

Angela Hewitt / Orchestra Da Camera Di Mantova MOZART Piano Concertos No 17 K453 - No 27 K595

Angela Hewitt turns to two of Mozart’s greatest and most popular concertos for her latest album. Together with her frequent collaborators, the Orchestra da Camera di Mantova and brilliant Finnish conductor Hannu Lintu, she presents these works in performances which are both elegantly stylish and profoundly felt. This release is completed by a personal reflection on the music by Hewitt herself in the accompanying booklet.

'The sound is wonderfully clean and focused, with an ideal balance between Hewitt's customary Fazioli piano and the orchestra. … [K453 finale] Here Lintu starts the movement with light-footed grace, using minimal vibrato on the strings, Hewitt taking her cue with playing of elegance and buoyancy … The attention to musical contrast and stylistic integrity is similar throughout. Hewitt's own illuminating notes in the booklet are a bonus, making this a Mozart release to cherish' (The Daily Telegraph)

The success of her performances of K595 and the G major, K453, rests in part on Hewitt's feeling for Mozart's remarkable harmonic and tonal range in both works … Mozart gives us plenty more surprises … Hewitt relishes these, as if freshly exploring and delighting in them … These characteristics of intelligent delight in the music also mark Hewitt's performance of the G major Concerto … It is brilliantly done, and this is a brilliant performance all round' (International Record Review