BACH: The Well-Tempered Clavier (complete) – Angela Hewitt, piano – Hyperion CDA67741/4 (4 CDs), 271:00 ***** [Distr. by Harmonia mundi]:
There are several fascinating things about this new recording of the WTC, the least not being the fact that Angela Hewitt, after having made a highly regarded recording for this same label in 2000, has chosen—and been allowed by the same company—to return to it again. And this is a very different recording indeed. I must confess that many of Hewitt’s earlier Bach readings struck me as somewhat dulled around the edges and uninvolved, a good example being her English Suites, which simply don’t elicit the same amount of light that Murray Perahia’s recording on Sony does. And some of the others also seemed merely perfunctory run-throughs, technically immaculate though they are. But as time went on her growth in the knowledge and style of the composer seemed to mature, and her latest recordings demonstrate a mastery of the Bach idiom that few today possess.
Hewitt herself evidently recognizes this, at least in regards to the WTC. Over time she has become more and more frustrated with what she calls “straight” Bach playing, and this set certainly reflects a newer and more elastic way of approaching these pieces, not being afraid of rubato for instance, and with more emphasis on the lyrical elements of the music. Structurally the piece is in two distinct parts of course; the first book completed in 1722 (and revised often after that) was more pedagogical in nature, while the 20 year later Book II inhabits a world that is vastly different, freer, more expressive, and grander in concept. As Hewitt herself says, her new-found approach to these pieces developed “over time and was brought on by many things: my exposure to the French harpsichord repertoire (especially Rameau and Couperin) in which rhythmic freedom is a necessity; my switch to Fazioli pianos whose luminous, powerful, and also ever so delicate sounds opened new worlds to me and allowed my imagination to take flight; my continued work on Bach keyboard repertoire during which I never stopped learning; working with other like-minded musicians; listening to others who played Bach so straight that I wanted to scream; and, perhaps most of all, ten more years of life and all the emotions that come with it—a greater sense of joy and sorrow and ability to translate them into music.”
I have gone through many sets in my collection and retain only two—fervent Gouldian that I am, his set remains primary and has not been displaced, and the poetic utterances of Eunice Norton apart from any other consideration of style and era satisfy my sense of rebelliousness greatly. But I think I have now added a third; whereas Gould conceptually looked at every single piece with new-dawn freshness, Hewitt views the work as a whole, both parts, and plays it with a golden thread of reparability, as if years of distortion require that we look at these 96 pieces as a conceptual whole. Of course, no one knows what Bach really intended—a little bit of musical detective work is needed. But when I hear this beautiful performance from first to last I feel as if I am hearing a long work of almost symphonic proportions intimately tied together from piece to piece.The sound, recorded at the Jesus-Christus-Kirche in Berlin, is stunning in its clarity. Recommended with enthusiasm.
— Steven Ritter
