Bach: Fantasia and Fugue in A Minor, Aria Variata, etc

2004-07-18 / The Sunday Times / Hugh Canning

This, Hewitt says, is the last of her series devoted to Bach´s keyboard music. It consists of what sbe considers to be the cream of the miscellanea, and is topped and tailed by two Fantasias and Fugues in A minor, the one learned and restrained, the other brilliantly flamboyant. In between, the music includes the even earlier Aria Variata (which, while no undiscovered Goldberg Variations, is resourceful and characterful), a toccata-like Sonata in D, a French-style Partie (sic) in A, an F minor suite in just three movements and a pair of rather lovely chorale preludes, Jesu, meine Zuversicht and Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten. Hewitt plays all of this unfamiliar material with her usual flair and beguiling sound.