ANGELA HEWITT
BACH WORLD TOUR
> Recordings
The Well-Tempered Clavier (4-CD box set)
August 2007 sees the start of Angela Hewitt’s Bach World Tour in which she will bring her celebrated performances of The Well-Tempered Clavier to twenty-five countries on six continents. Concurrently, Hyperion is releasing this limited edition box set of Hewitt’s iconic recordings of ‘The 48’ - held by many critics to be the definitive piano version of Bach’s incomparable masterpiece.
GRAMOPHONE CRITICS' CHOICE
BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE PICK OF THE MONTH AND BEST OF THE YEAR
PENGUIN GUIDE ROSETTE
JUNO AWARD, CANADA 1999
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The Goldberg Variations
An almost "live" performance of Bach's masterpiece, and the work that Angela Hewitt performs in public all over the world.
'This is Bach on the piano of the highest quality imaginable' (The Guardian)
'In my view, she has never made a better CD. Strongly recommended' (Gramophone)
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Bach: Keyboard Concertos
This is a re-issue in slimline double format of the two Bach Keyboard Concertos CDs that were released last year. Only a few weeks after their release, they were already in the Billboard Charts in the USA, and were named Record of the Month by Gramophone magazine. For those of you who haven't already purchased the single discs, this is the best format to have!
"A superb pair of discs" (Gramophone)
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The Keyboard Concertos - 1
This CD, along with its companion second volume, contain all Bach’s concertos featuring a solo keyboard. The first volume includes the famous D minor Concerto, as well as the Fifth Brandenburg Concerto in D major.
'As always, she [Hewitt] really sparkles in the allegros, infusing the music with wit as well as technical bravura' (Sunday Times CD of the Week)
GRAMOPHONE RECORDING OF THE MONTH
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The Keyboard Concertos - 2
This is the second CD in a set that contains all of Bach’s extant concertos for solo keyboard. Four of the concertos are true solo concertos; the one in F major is Bach's own arrangement of his Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 featuring two solo flutes as well as solo keyboard.
'charismatic, effervescent, uplifting'
(Evening Standard, London)
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Bach's Italian Concerto and French Overture
One of Bach's most popular works, the Italian Concerto, is here presented with the French Overture, the Four Duets, and the two youthful Capriccios.
'This disc is one of the finest volumes in Hewitt’s continuing Bach cycle, with marvellous engineering to match. Highly recommended' (International Record Review)
'Hewitt's playing radiates joy, wit and profound understanding of the composer's keyboard style. This series is one of the record glories of our age' (The Sunday Times)
GRAMOPHONE 'EDITOR’S CHOICE’
GRAMOPHONE CRITICS' CHOICE
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The Toccatas
These early works show how Bach must have wowed his contemporaries with his improvisations and virtuoso keyboard playing. A must for any serious piano student!
'Her performances could hardly be more stylish or impeccable, more vital or refined; and, as a crowning touch, Hyperion's sound is superb' (Gramophone)
'Like the music itself, the performances brim with that improvisatory spontaneity that is the hallmark of this player’s style' (The Sunday Times)
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The English Suites
Recorded towards the end of Angela Hewitt's Bach cycle, the English Suites are large-scale, virtuoso works demanding a complete mastery of Baroque style and technique.
Another tour de force from this wonderful player' (The Independent)
'The standard of excellence Angela Hewitt has set in previous installments in her Hyperion Bach cycle continues unabated with the English Suites' (BBC Music Magazine)
BEST CLASSICAL ALBUM (SOLO OR CHAMBER), JUNO AWARDS 2005, CANADA
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The Six Partitas
The Partitas show how Bach took the standard keyboard suite and made it into something uniquely his own. With the release of this CD back in 1997, Angela Hewitt's career began to really take off.
'Effortlessly eclipsing all competition' (Gramophone)
'Pouvait-on imaginer Bach aussi lumineux, brillant? … Un exercice 'parfait', à écouter et à réécouter pour en savourer toute la puissance, toute l'éloquence (Répertoire, France)
'For this pair of discs only superlatives will do.' (Soundscapes, Australia)
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The French Suites
This was the second release in the Bach cycle, dating from 1995. As well as the Six French Suites, which contain some of Bach's most attractive music, the double-CD includes the Eighteen Little Preludes for beginners, and the Sonata in D minor--Bach's own transcription of one of his solo violin sonatas.
'Hewitt's playing makes Bach's music live, for me, in a way that even the greatest harpsichordists do not' (The Sunday Times)
GRAMOPHONE EDITOR'S CHOICE
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The Inventions
This was Angela Hewitt's first CD in her cycle of Bach discs for Hyperion, recorded in 1994. She begins where Bach would have wanted to begin: with the Two- and Three-part Inventions--works that are approached by every piano teacher and student around the world.
'Performances of exemplary clarity and craftsmanship' (CDReview)
'As close to how I would choose to hear [the music] as I have yet had the pleasure of doing' (Gramophone)
GRAMOPHONE EDITOR'S CHOICE
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Miscellaneous Keyboard Works of J.S. Bach
The last disc in the acclaimed series of solo keyboard works by J.S. Bach has Angela Hewitt presenting many works which are rarely played, let alone on the piano. Besides more well-known pieces such as the Fantasia and Fugue in a minor, BWV 904, and the Aria Variata, BWV 989, we have the Sonata in D major (concluding with a fugue imitating the hen and the cuckoo!), and the Partie in A major (with its jaunty Air pour les Trompettes).
"...another out and out winner from Angela Hewitt" (The Daily Telegraph, London)
'The statuesque, beautiful, and brilliantly gifted Angela Hewitt has now joined the ranks of the great interpreters of Bach's keyboard music, and
the effortless and natural readings on this and the other CDs in her cycle for Hyperion unquestionably number among the finest available. After discussion, debate - call it what you will - Angela Hewitt's recordings may be deemed unquestionably definitive'
(Fanfare, USA)
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Bach Arrangements
A choice selection of Bach Arrangements by Wilhelm Kempff, Myra Hess, Eugen d'Albert, and many others, including Angela Hewitt herself.
'A magnificent addition to both the Bach repertoire and Angela Hewitt's artistically unparallelled survey of Bach's keyboard compositions' (Fanfare, USA)
BEST CLASSICAL ALBUM (SOLO OR CHAMBER), JUNO AWARDS 2002, CANADA
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Bach Gamba Sonatas
Angela Hewitt's first chamber music CD is with the brilliant young German cellist, Daniel Müller-Schott. Both artists were brought up on the music of Bach, and their collaboration in these wonderful sonatas is a joy to hear.
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