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CDA67303/4 - Bach: The Well-tempered Clavier, Vol. 2
CDA67303/4

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

The Well-tempered Clavier, Vol. 2

Angela Hewitt (piano)
2CDs Last few CD copies remaining
Label: Hyperion
Recording details: Various dates
Beethovensaal, Hannover, Germany
Produced by Ludger Böckenhoff
Engineered by Ludger Böckenhoff
Release date: June 1999
Total duration: 147 minutes 5 seconds
 

This is the fifth release in Angela Hewitt's universally acclaimed series of Bach's keyboard music which is fast being seen as the definitive modern recording of this repertoire on the piano.

Bach's Well-tempered Clavier ('The 48') consists of two books of 24 Preludes and Fugues in all the major and minor keys, and has been described as the pianist's 'Old Testament'. For over two hundred years these pieces have been the foundation of every pianist's repertoire.

All of the music on this album is also available as part of the specially priced box set The Well-tempered Clavier: ‘If you missed Hewitt's '48' the first time around, don't look this gift horse in the mouth’ (Classics Today).

Awards

GRAMOPHONE CRITICS' CHOICE
PREIS DER DEUTSCHEN SCHALLPLATTENKRITIK
BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE BEST OF THE YEAR
PENGUIN GUIDE ROSETTE

Reviews

‘A delight to both ear and mind. I have nothing but enthusiasm for Angela Hewitt's musicianly and imaginative performances’ (Gramophone)

‘I know of no musician whose Bach playing on any instrument is of greater subtlety, beauty of tone, persuasiveness of judgement or instrumental command than Hewitt’s is here … Hewitt has set a new benchmark. Her touch is admirably clear and light, her choices of tempo make perfect musical sense and, a trained dancer, she is uniquely attuned to Bach's supple, sprightly rhyhms. A '48' of exceptional grace and beauty’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘Her sound and articulation seem ideally suited to the music … highly recommended’ (International Record Review)

‘Since she won the 1985 Toronto Bach competition, Angela Hewitt has established herself as the Bach pianist par excellence of her generation. Here she crowns her enthralling set of Book 1 of the "48" with a performance of Book 2 that no lover of Bach's keyboard works will want to be without. It is impossible to catalogue the manifold felicities of her playing in a short review, but the variety of colour and mood she brings to this music is irresistible throughout’ (The Sunday Times)

„It ranks with the best ever set down. Subtle, daring (yet never idiosyncratic), continually alive to the two most enrapturing features of Bach's music (dance and song), she exhibits a rhythmic vitality and sophistication matched by very few“ (Piano, Germany)

Other albums in this series

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