Angela Hewitt (piano), Australian Chamber Orchestra, Richard Tognetti (conductor)

CD I:
Keyboard Concerto No 1 in D minor BWV1052
Keyboard Concerto No 7 in G minor BWV1058
Brandenburg Concerto No 5 in D major BWV1050
Triple Concerto in A minor BWV1044

CD II:
Keyboard Concerto No 4 in A major BWV1055
Keyboard Concerto No 3 in D major BWV1054
Keyboard Concerto No 2 in E major BWV1053
Keyboard Concerto No 5 in F minor BWV1056
Keyboard Concerto No 6 in F major BWV1057

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)

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

‘These two discs, while available separately, go in tandem as 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)