JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750)

Hyperion Records CDA 67607/8

This is a re-issue in slimline double format of the two Bach Keyboard Concertos CDs that were released separately to begin with. 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)

CD I:

Keyboard Concerto No 1 in D minor BWV1052 (22’46)
Allegro (7’37)
Adagio (7’17)
Allegro (7’50)

Keyboard Concerto No 7 in G minor BWV1058 (14’04)
(first movement) (3’41)
Andante (6’34)
Allegro assai (3’50)

Brandenburg Concerto No 5 in D major BWV1050 (19’59)
Richard Tognetti violin, Alison Mitchell flute
Allegro (9’41)
Affettuoso (5’02)
Allegro (5’14)

Triple Concerto in A minor BWV1044 (20’07)
Richard Tognetti violin, Alison Mitchell flute
Allegro (8’35)
Adagio ma non tanto e dolce (4’36)
Tempo di alla breve (6’56)

CD II:

Keyboard Concerto No 4 in A major BWV1055 (13’41)
Allegro (4’06)
Larghetto (4’55)
Allegro ma non tanto (4’39)

Keyboard Concerto No 3 in D major BWV1054 (16’13)
(first movement) (7’29)
Adagio e piano sempre (6’05)
Allegro (2’37)

Keyboard Concerto No 2 in E major BWV1053 (19’15)
(first movement) (8’02)
Siciliano (4’43)
Allegro (6’28)

Keyboard Concerto No 5 in F minor BWV1056 (9’47)
Allegro (3’28)
Adagio (2’57)
Presto (3’19)

Keyboard Concerto No 6 in F major BWV1057 (16’33)
Alison Mitchell, Emma Sholl flutes
(first movement) (7’21)
Andante (4’09)
Allegro assai (5’02)

EDITOR’S CHOICE (Gramophone)
CD OF THE MONTH (Gramophone)
CLASSICAL CD OF THE WEEK (The Sunday Times)
ALBUM OF THE WEEK (Musicweek)
CLASSICAL CD OF THE WEEK (The Daily Telegraph)
DISC OF THE MONTH (Classic FM Magazine)

“…a beguiling example of what can be achieved in performances of Baroque music on the piano when they have been prepared with such thought and are blessed with such compelling artistry as Angela Hewitt’s. Her Bach catalogue for Hyperion is already extensive, and here she joins the outstanding Australian Chamber Orchestra for the six concertos and two other works that spotlight the keyboard, the Fifth Brandenburg Concerto and the A minor Triple Concerto with flute (Alison Mitchell) and violin (Richard Tognetti, who also directs the orchestra). The performances call on different traditions: Hewitt plays a modern Fazioli grand, the orchestra deploys certain historically aware techniques, to the extent of having a discreet harpsichord in the continuo part. But such is Hewitt’s sensitivity to style, and such is the orchestra’s versatility, that there is no sense of compromise or jarring anachronism. Rather, the two coalesce in interpretations of remarkable synergy and fascinating textures. The familiar argument that Bach would have written for a piano if only he had had one is nowhere given more persuasive advocacy than in Hewitt’s singing melodic lines, her judicious range of tonal colouring and in her touch, which combines the crispness and full flavour of a fresh apple. Take a bite of any of these concertos, and you will want to make a whole meal of them’ (The Daily Telegraph)

‘The result of their historically informed modern-instrument take on the music is stunning, with crisp rhythms and singing melodic lines’ (Classic FM Magazine)

‘Here the Fazioli is heard at its exquisite best, its spongey bass chords pumping with clarity, its treble caressing a heart-tuggingly beautiful legato out of the slow movement, while the dainty strings sketch an almost tongue-in-cheek pizzicato in the background. Hewitt’s sense of phrase is masterful … the statements have regal import under the authoritative hands of this queen of keyboard playing’ (The Times)

‘Her fingers dance as well as sing: in the outer movements, rhythms are buoyantly sprung, and this communicates itself to the members of the Australian Chamber Orchestra, whose slender string accompaniment in no way lessens their energy, while Hewitt responds by projecting the piano parts with all due attention to Bach’s overall texture’ (International Record Review)

Recorded in Verbrugghen Hall, Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Australia, on 4, 5 and 7–10 February 2005.

For online sales in Canada, please go to: http://angelahewitt.ca