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Angela Hewitt Revisits Bach's Partitas · The Piano Maven with Jed Distler

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  This is Jed Disler, and welcome to The Piano
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  Maven, your friendly podcast guide to piano recordings.
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  You know, I haven't yet on this podcast talked
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  about the Bach recordings by Angela Hewitt, who
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  has recorded all of Bach's keyboard works on
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  the modern Concert Grand for the Hyperion label.
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  And she has re -recorded several items as well.
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  She made a second version of the well -tempered
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  Clavier. did so for the first time in the, I
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  think, mid -1990s, and then in 2008 she made
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  a second version, and then she did a second Goldberg
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  Variations and a second version of the six partitas.
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  Now, Angela Hewitt is a pianist who is well aware
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  that collectors will compare and contrast her
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  remakes with her earlier versions. But she also
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  is a pianist who re -records certain repertoire
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  items, not just because she can, but because
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  I think she genuinely feels that she has something
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  new to say about this repertoire. And that's
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  fair enough. And also the fact that the Hyperion
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  label agreed to her re -recording certain pieces
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  means that... It's not a frivolous decision at
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  all. So for this episode, I want to talk about
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  Angela Hewitt's Bach partitas. Her first recordings
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  of the cycle, made in 1996 and 1997, got favorable
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  reviews and were always recommendable. as reference
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  versions, certainly alongside Andra Schiff, maybe
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  Glenn Gould, Richard Goode. Oh, I know there
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  are others, Marie Pariah, for example. But when
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  Angela Hewitt's 2018 remakes of the Partitas
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  came along, I inevitably had to make comparisons
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  when I wrote a review of them for Gramophone.
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  The most noticeable difference between the versions
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  as the actual instrument itself. On the earlier
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  Partita's recording, Angela Hewitt used a Steinway
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  concert ground that possessed a uniform beauty
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  and warmth that really contrasted to the somewhat
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  brighter tone and more pronounced timbral distinctions
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  between registers that characterized the Fazzioli
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  grand piano that Hewitt owned and used for, I
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  think, many of her recent recordings. up until
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  when the instrument was dropped by movers after
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  a 2020 recording session, and the instrument
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  was totally destroyed. I mean, what a horrible
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  thing to happen. Of course, the instrument was
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  replaced, but still, this was a very special
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  hand -built instrument worth something like $194
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  ,000, I think. Anyway, in the partitas, Angela
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  Hewitt's stylish integrity and her superb finger
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  independence and really genuine feeling for the
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  music's roots and dance remain as constant in
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  the 2018 recordings as these characteristics
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  were 20 years earlier. Except in the newer recordings,
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  there's a greater level of interplay between
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  the hands with additional variety of articulation
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  and more rhythmic flexibility. This is most immediately
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  noticeable, I would think, in the A minor partita,
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  the partita number three. And throughout the
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  2018 recordings, I... Also notice more expressive
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  gestures by way of dynamic hairpins and caesuras
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  and breath pauses and all kinds of accentuations
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  that may strike listeners as either more spontaneous
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  or maybe even self -aware, a little bit affected
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  perhaps. I guess it really depends on one's taste.
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  I personally find the newer recording of the
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  Partita No. 1 and the faster movements, at least,
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  more vibrantly delineated and shapely than before.
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  And in the Partita No. 1 Sourbrand, Angela Hewitt
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  plays with more breadth and hushed introspection
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  this time around. I mean, the earlier version
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  is very beautiful, but this one, I think, digs
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  a little deeper. And for me, the new partita
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  number two's outer movements hold a decisive
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  dramatic edge over their earlier counterparts.
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  The rondo movement in this partita still remains
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  unusually deliberate, but I think she played
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  it simpler and more directly in the earlier recording.
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  Here, there are a couple of added curly cues
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  that... I think, are a little bit self -aware.
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  In the introduction to the Partita No. 4's overture,
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  Hewitt's remake kind of pacifies those rocket
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  -like crescendos that she used to do in the upward
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  scales, but she gives more of an additional woodwind
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  -like... definition to the staccato phrasing
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  in this movement, in this new recording. And
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  I think this is where the fazioli's responsiveness
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  really makes itself felt. And in the D major
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  partita also, if Hewitt's earlier reading of
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  the Allemande evoked something of a gentle lute
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  solo, this newer version is much more vocally.
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  oriented and flexible and freer i like both of
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  these and i really can't decide between the two
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  of them i like most of the partita number five
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  and the newer version except for the first movement
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  where I think Hewitt is just overthinking the
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  music and kind of overdoing the contrasts in
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  texture. I think in this sense, the earlier recording
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  of that first movement has more flow and fluidity.
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  But the Faziole's timbral diversity contributed
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  more to the incisive impression that Hewitt makes.
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  in the remake of the sixth partita. For instance,
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  the air movement is tighter and more austere
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  than before. And in the Sarabande, Hewitt projects
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  the bass lines much more to the forefront in
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  the remake with a lot more harmonic tension.
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  So I would basically say that her interpretations
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  of the partitas have not changed so much as they
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  have evolved. Now, I wouldn't want to be without
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  both of Angela Hewitt's recordings of the Bach
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  partitas, but if pressed to choose, I would lean
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  toward the 2018 remake. This is Jed Disler, and
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  you've been listening to The Piano Maven, your
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  friendly podcast guide to piano recordings. And
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  thanks so much for listening, and I look forward
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  to being with you for our next episode.