Third Couperin CD for Hyperion

2005-09-29 / Toronto Star

ANGELA HEWITT François Couperin Keyboard Music — 3 (Hyperion)

It is simply impossible to do anything but listen when spinning Angela Hewitt’s third, and final, album dedicated to the harpsichord works of François Couperin. This greatest of French baroque keyboard composers (1668-1733) and final organiste du roi” for Louis XIV has met his match in this extraordinary Canadian pianist. Hewitt has chosen carefully, largely from Couperin’s third book of pieces (he wrote around 220 harpsichord compositions in all), to create a nicely textured, hypnotic romp through 30 musical portraits. Hewitt’s dynamic shading and careful ornamentation (Couperin always left explicit instructions) work together to produce the scintillating musical equivalent of light shining through crystals. The conviction of this September, 2004 recording should overturn any doubts period-performance sticklers may have about Hewitt using a modern piano instead of the harpsichord.”