Keyboard Works

Mankind. On the one hand you have: the holocaust, the millions dead in the Soviet concentration camps, Rwanda, Yugoslavia, the Armenian massacre by the Turks, ruthless and bloody terrorisms of all affiliations, 20th century dictatorships, the Spanish Inquisition, the genocide of the Amerindians in the name of Jesus Christ and manifest destiny, the genocides everywhen and where so numerous that we don't even recall them all, and the IRS.And on the other hand: Bach.Bach and his keyboard music, and Angela Hewitt.And Bach, and his keyboard music, reconcile me with mankind.Mankind and its appetite for hatred and massacres: that is the passing history of the flesh (even if the stains it leaves on the big book are indelible).Bach: the everlasting power of the gamboling spirit. Pure Joy. Love of mankind, love of a spiritual being above and beyond mankind.If one spirit could create such breathtaking beauty, beauty that stabs you all the more profoundly that you sense - even when you are not a religious person, even if you are entirely materialistic and believe, like Molière's Dom Juan, that one plus one equals two - that there is more to it than you can grasp, then there is reason not to despair of mankind.(And I know, of course, that it's not like mankind divides in two, the wicked, twisted, perverted spirits of hatred and evil and the pure spirits of love and creation. I recognize that it is the same spirit, the same psyche that is at work in Bach and in the Holocaust. Nobody has shown that better than Stanley Kubrick in "2001 A Space Odyssey": it is the same 10 fingers that can run on the keyboard playing the Well-Tempered Clavier, and grab a bludgeon to smash the head of one's brother (although it is not usually the pianists themselves that bandy the bludgeon - yet I am sure that there were quite a few proficient pianists among the mass-murderes). It probably all has to do with imagination, and the ability to experience affects. Love and hatred: the two sides of the same coin, the obverse and the reverse, or maybe even the same engraving seen from both sides, trough and bulge. I must ask my psych if he has any insights on that.)I haven't yet done any thorough comparative listening on Angela Hewitt's Bach, and can't assess at this point how much of this beauty must be credited to her. Even at the hands of bland, unimaginative pianists, the beauty of Bach shines through, although it shines even more ardently at the hands of an imaginative pianist. I've been slowly dipping into her complete set, listening in the car, at lunchtime, whenever I have an "idle" moment. I'll return more seriously, thorougly and comparatively - and I reckon that will take me some 20 years (and what's 20 years in the face of eternal beauty?). But my first impression is that she is a wonderfully imaginative and crisp minister of Saint-Bach.Sankt Johann-Sebastian, irgendwo du bist: sei Dank (and Angela, some of that to you too).*******************************************************************P.S. I am puzzled that this review is getting universal negatives. Worshipers of mass murder who are offended that I attribute it to the evil side of the force, or people who take exception with the notion that Bach redeems mankind of its propensity for mass murder? Or perhaps, as the courteous comment of D. Altschuler hints to, and some less courteous ones that were deleted by Amazon as abusive, readers who want to read "technicalities" about Angela Hewitt's Bach and don't find them here, how it compares to Gould's, Andras Schifff's, Rosalyn Turecks or Wanda Landowska's.I've written to date (this postscript is posted on July 24, 2013), 1861 such reviews, where I engage into detailed, in-depth, thoroughly argued comparative reviews of all styles of classical music. I invite the doubtful reader to quickly check on My Profile to assess my ability to write such reviews. The superficial and hasty reader however, the one who has time, patience and interest not for arguments and demonstrations but only for two lines boiling down to "I dig" or "it sucks" should steer clear.Not being a superficial listener, I cannot at this point provide such a review for Angela Hewitt's Bach. I reckon - and this is no figure of speech - that it'll take me some 20 years to be able to complete an in-depth comparative assessment of Bach's complete keyboard oeuvre. We are not talking here about Satie's Gnossiennes.But what the negators have failed to comprehend, those who thirst for technicalities and find my review unhelpful because it doesn't provide them, is that sometimes - like, once every 1860 times? - music confronts you with more than "technicalities". It confronts you with something greater than yourself, greater than mankind and mankind's baseness. I believe that a review - like, one in every 1860? - can also be about these deep emotions that the music (which, of course, cannot be dissociated from the interpreter's music making) stirs in you. Too bad for the superficial reader if he doesn't understand it, if he cares only to see the music of Bach reduced to "technicalities". I stand by what I wrote.

BWV 988 UPDATED 11/11/2013As my original cossack-style review caused a deserved healthy criticism from the other J.S. Bach and A. Hewitt admirers, I am replacing it with with the one more politically correct.While the set is perfectly mastered technically and mindfully, I completely disagree with Hewitt's interpretation of The Goldberg Variations. So my advice is - get the set but never use The Goldberg Variations.After I got sо many positive responses regarding Hewitt's BWV 988, I had no choice but listen it more and more again. I must say, I even started liking it - so the other's opinions and your own habits can be so powerful and influential.It lasted as long as I put any of Gould's - 1954, 1955, 1959, 1981 - back in player, however. Compared to Gould - even 22 years old - her variations are feminine-sweet, mindless, dispassionate, uneven, discombobulated. It is not a single 32-in-one composition, but rather a collection of disconnected variations (and couple of arias, of course). The way she plays the GV - she does not keep me engaged, interested; likely because her own mood and mind are wandering. In my country one would say "not a fish and not a meat" about a person without a core and particular characteristics. So Hewitt's variations are the same way - not a fish and not a meat. I would describe her playing as a "yesterday's mashed potato", microwaved for 30 seconds on a medium setting, which has very few warm spots.Even compared with Feltsman, Schepkin, Dershavina (Derzhavina, to name her properly) or Denk (they are all great, each in their own and a very different way) Hewitt's GVs performance is quite blunt, not to mention Gould.Anyway, as long as the music itself is a de gustibus matter, one might form a different opinion on this CD set or part of it (and there plenty of such under this discussion thread). So, my advice is - go ahead and get it and good luck. There is plenty of what to enjoy besides BWV 988. Finally, some people like Dinnerstein's schmaltz.

It took me a while to warm to Hewitt's first traversal of the Well-Tempered Clavier  Bach, J.S.: Well-Tempered Clavier , which as I understand, is NOT the one included here. Rather we get her later version, which received even more glowing reviews. At 16 CDs, this is a lot of Bach on the piano. Sometimes when we encounter negative reviews of such performances, it's the piano that irks, not the pianist. And it is odd to hear Aregerich doing Bach for example, so much more dramatic than "Bach should sound"  J.S. Bach: Toccata; Partita; English Suite No. 2 , but superb in any event. Hewitt is more restrained, but there's no escaping it, is there? The pianoforte simply must be played more emphatically, with more intensity, than the harpsichord. And don't neglect Perahia's  Bach: Goldberg Variations . This really is a wonderful set, with great purity of sound throughout, despite so many different recording dates.UPDATE: It's hard to overstate how fine this recording is. I'm not sure I know of Bach on the piano that beats what's going on here. OK, OK, I'm sure that somebody will tout Richter, or of course Gould, and the list must go on. But this is an amazing set. There's nothing else like it that I know of. A must-have. I play this even during dinner parties, and people literally sit up and take notice. Typically these aren't Bach aficionados, just folks who suddenly hear something beautiful and strangely perfect. "Beautiful and strangely perfect." I never heard Bach as--well--as so original before.

i recently spent 8 days seriously ill in hospital - this was one of 2 boxed sets that got me through the days and on my return home got me through the nightsless idiosyncratic than gould, she plays with a wonderful sense of rhythmn and control but allows the music to sing like gouldas a bonus there is a sampler disc of non bach pieces to add to your wish list

Not as intense as Gould. Not as urbane as Barenboim. In a word joyous

Aunque ya tenía algunos de las grabaciones contenidas (Hyperion) no me he podido resistir a esta caja/cofre.Angela Hewitt para mí ha mostrado una progresión fascinante en sus interpretaciones de Bach, que van desde juventud hasta experiencia.Algo que, a lo largo de mi tiempo de vida, me ha acompañado y he apreciado.Poder oir tanta belleza de vida condensada: la recomiendo para aquéllos que piensen que bach son terapias con flores.Las curas del espíritu son antíguas.Y más etéreas que las mismas flores.

Questo cofanetto contiene praticamente tutta l' opera clavicembalistica di Bach, eseguita al pianoforte ma secondo la prassi esecutiva del tempo.La Hewitt esegue le composizioni con chiarezza e trasparenza. Quelle che più mi hanno impressionato sono le Partite, autentico capolavoro interpretativo, ma soprattutto Il clavicembalo ben temperato (2oo8), molto più approfondito rispetto alla prima edizione.Grazie forse al pianoforte Fazioli usato,il suono è più ricco di sfumature e interiorizzato, A mio avviso non vi è traccia di freddezza spesso caratteristica di esecuzioni storicamente informate.Veramente eccezionale.La registrazione di tutti i cd è di alto livello.

EXCELLENT - EXCELLENT - EXCELLENT EXCEPTONE OF THE DISKS IS FAULTYThere is a glitch - at the Goldberg Variations - the needle gets stuck and repeats and repeats. There is need for replacing one of the 14/ 16 disks I've heard so far!. It's a disastrous disappointment BECAUSE all other disks are perfect - executed and technically perfect. Hyperion is superb. Why did this happen????