Bach on the piano

[milk]

Has anyone heard this?

I love Demus but I realize I may never have heard his partitas. Anybody?

[vers la flamme]

I'll be checking out the Ashkenazy in addition to Hewitt, Levit and Schiff. I'm a big Ashkenazy fan in other repertoire. I've already heard just about the entire Schiff ECM and it's great, so I think that's the frontrunner. Levit and Hewitt are up there because these are pianists whose artistry I wish to explore, I'm mostly unfamiliar with them. I mentioned I was unimpressed with Hewitt in the past, but I've really not heard much of it, just bits and pieces. She'll be playing an all-Bach recital near me next month, maybe I'll have to go check her out, and then decide whether or not to buy the CD after that.

Tipo I'm unfamiliar with, but Schumannesque Bach sounds tempting. 

Edit: Pulled the trigger on Schiff/ECM for the Partitas. I saw that it was offered by a seller for $7 brand new, couldn't resist. I'm familiar enough with Schiff to know that he will not disappoint.

[Mandryka]

Hewitt's playing hasn't changed much.  She says as much herself, in the booklet for her newer Partitas recording.  She plays a different piano - a Fazioli as opposed to a Steinway - in a different venue (though both central European) - but substantially the same production team.

As an alternative I do like the Levit set - but I haven't really listened to many others.

Have a listen to earlier and later Hewitt in, for example, the Sarabande and Toccata of 830, or the allemande of 828, and see whether you think there's some evolution. I do. I'll check the booklet later.

[aukhawk]

I was basing my own opinion on her original and remake of the WTC, where I don't think the remake improves on her first go (I have both).  In the new Partitas booklet she writes along the lines of "don't expect Gould-like evolution, an Allemande is still an Allemande after all".

[Mandryka]

I was basing my own opinion on her original and remake of the WTC, where I don't think the remake improves on her first go (I have both).  In the new Partitas booklet she writes along the lines of "don't expect Gould-like evolution, an Allemande is still an Allemande after all".

Ah yes, i expect you're right about WTC!

[Mandryka]

Has anyone heard this?

Yes, it sounds like some bloke playing Bach on a horrid sounding piano.

[Mandryka]

Re-recording the Bach partitas

Back in 2014, when the director of London's Wigmore Hall, John Gilhooly, approached me to perform the complete solo keyboard works of Johann Sebastian Bach in twelve recitals over four years, my first reaction was to say no. I had already spent so much time with Bach—both in performance and in the recording studio—and there is much else I still wish to do. But it didn't take long to change my mind, and the subsequent 'Bach Odyssey' (which began in September 2016, ending in June 2020) is proving to be one of the highlights of my life.

It never bothered me to be associated so closely with Bach. How could it? There is no greater music, and to develop in his company one's musical intelligence, technique, beauty of sound, and spirit is a great gift and a lifelong adventure. The offer from Hyperion Records, back in 1994, to record all his major keyboard works gave my career a purpose and direction that have been profoundly fulfilling.

In the second year of the 'Bach Odyssey', I presented the six partitas in concert around the world, once more marvelling at their inventiveness, range of expression, and sheer brilliance—not just in technique but also in perfection of form. No wonder these suites have stood the  test of time and are among the most frequently played of his keyboard compositions.

As my first recording of them was done over twenty years ago (1996-97), I thought it time to record them again—this time on my own Fazioli piano, and in the beautiful acoustics of the Kulturzentrum Gustav Mahler in Toblach/Dobbiaco. The sound engineer for the first album of that 'early' recording, Ludger Bockenhoff, took over also as producer for the second one in that box set—and now at the time of writing we have worked together for twenty-five years. It has been a relationship in which we have both grown tremendously, which has kept me on my toes, and for which I am hugely grateful.

So what's different this time? Well, you'll have to listen to find out! Don't expect huge differences of Gouldian proportions. An allemande is still an allemande; a French courante should still not be rushed; a gigue must remain danceable. Twenty years of life have intervened—twenty years spent practising his music, always trying to do better, to bring it to life even more. The older we get, the more music means to us, and it gives me great joy to share these partitas with you once again. ANGEL% HEWITT © 2019

[vers la flamme]

Thank you for sharing that. From what I'm reading, if she writes accurately, it seems she has changed more than folks are giving her credit for. I never expected her to slow down dramatically à la Gould Goldberg '81 or anything like that, but still, one's playing can change a lot over 20 years even in very subtle ways. That being said, if one already owns one recording or the other, whether there's any real reason to buy the other is a different question.

How do we feel here generally speaking of Hewitt's Bach? Is she a worthy interpreter...?

[JBS]

Thank you for sharing that. From what I'm reading, if she writes accurately, it seems she has changed more than folks are giving her credit for. I never expected her to slow down dramatically à la Gould Goldberg '81 or anything like that, but still, one's playing can change a lot over 20 years even in very subtle ways. That being said, if one already owns one recording or the other, whether there's any real reason to buy the other is a different question.

How do we feel here generally speaking of Hewitt's Bach? Is she a worthy interpreter...?

I very much like her. I just didn't find that much difference between her first and second recordings.

[Mandryka]

How do we feel here generally speaking of Hewitt's Bach? Is she a worthy interpreter...?

Tame, polite, insipid. Bach for your grandma.

[milk]

Tame, polite, insipid. Bach for your grandma.

I wonder how she does in romantic and impressionist genres? I can't imagine much better. I wonder how she rose up?

[mc ukrneal]

How do we feel here generally speaking of Hewitt's Bach? Is she a worthy interpreter...?

Some of it is very good, and some of it is less so. But she always seems to have something to say regardless.

[JBS]

I wonder how she does in romantic and impressionist genres? I can't imagine much better. I wonder how she rose up?

She's very good in French repertoire.
But I disagree with Mandryka's image of a grandmother, unless it's a grandmother who is relatively young, quite active, and capable of inflicting a bon mot on her friends.

[milk]

She's very good in French repertoire.
But I disagree with Mandryka's image of a grandmother, unless it's a grandmother who is relatively young, quite active, and capable of inflicting a bon mot on her friends.

She's never landed with me but means nothing because I often find things in performers that I'd missed. Some day I'll give her a try again. I saw her perform the Goldberg-s live many years ago.

[vers la flamme]

There's actually one thing of Hewitt's I've heard and liked, and that's the Schumann F-sharp minor sonata and the Humoreske. I trust Hyperion's A&R people. Somehow I doubt they would sign an artist to record the entire major keyboard works of Bach, twice, whose interpretations were "tame, polite & insipid". Somehow I doubt the grandma market is large enough to recoup so much marketing and production money. But what do I know. I didn't really like what I heard. I'm not one to give up on a performer. If I don't like something, my train of thought usually follows that there's something I missed.

Anyway, are the 6 Partitas the apex of Bach's suites, or what? There is so much great, unique, life-affirming music in them.

[Mandryka]

Anyway, are the 6 Partitas the apex of Bach's suites, or what? There is so much great, unique, life-affirming music in them.

On keyboard you have Clavier Ubung 1, The French suites and the English Suites. And there are minor things, often with disputed authorship like BWV 832 (which Hewitt plays quite nicely, her greatest achievement on record apart from the new partitas.) . Some people think that the so-called lute suites were probably meant for keyboard, since they don't actually fit on a lute -- but Bach seems to have been quite cavalier about that sort of thing. In addition there are keyboard transcriptions of the sets of suites for cello and violin.

[Mandryka]

Somehow I doubt the grandma market is large enough to recoup so much marketing and production money.

There are 962 million people over 60 years old. Not to mention all the younger people who have a grannie temperament. Hewitt must be rolling in $$$$$$$$$$$.

[vers la flamme]

There are 962 million people over 60 years old. Not to mention all the younger people who have a grannie temperament. Hewitt must be rolling in $$$$$$$$$$$.

OK, point taken. In that case she's doing a great thing for those older ladies. Grannies need Bach, too. 

[Florestan]

There are 962 million people over 60 years old. Not to mention all the younger people who have a grannie temperament.

You overlook people over 60 who have a youthful temperament.

[JBS]

You overlook people over 60 who have a youthful temperament.

Speaking of those over 60,  has the situation with your parents improved?

[ Your inbox is full again!]