Bach: The Toccatas

I am thoroughly enjoying listening to this cd. I am familiar with Bach being performed by other solo instruments, orchestra and choirs but 'simply' played on the piano is new to me. This is superb playing and I highly recommend this cd.

Being a great aficionado of J S Bach’s keyboard works, I have long admired Angela Hewitt’s interpretations of these compositions. She is possessed of a truly magical balance of emotion, intellect, and soul which gives the phrase “breathes life into the music” new depth and meaning. Her CD titled “The Toccatas” has instantly become my favourite of all her Bach interpretations I have had the immense pleasure to hear. It is a genuine jewel of recordings; I recommend it to anyone who enjoys this genre most highly. Moving interpretations, phrasing to die for, nothing over-done – a wonderful musical experience. If one were going to choose a single album to introduce Bach keyboard music to someone who is not faimiliar with it it, this would be the CD.

This is arguably Bach’s most dazzlingly brilliant music for keyboard, and this modern recording of Angela Hewitt’s sparkling performance on piano will not disappoint.

Strangely not hugely known but wonderful music wonderfully played (as always) by Angela Hewitt.Possibly not hugely 'approachable' to a general audience but for pianists and Bach lovers (ie humans) then this is a wonderful, well priced recording

It was midnight at the hollowed-out volcano as Ernst Hogwood Blofeld glared down the table at the high command of SPECTRE (Specious Period-Practice Enacted to Counter Traditional Readings Everlastingly). Opposite him sat Number 2 - Claudio Abbado - looking more vapid than usual. Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Number 4, was sitting primly beside him, savouring a cup of Earl Gray as he read a copy of the Gramophone. Number 3, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, was on the other side of the table, staring out wildly into the ether as his fingers drummed on the table. Rene Jacobs (Number 5), Sir Roger of Norrington (6), William Christie (7), Ton Koopman (8), Paul McCreesh (9) and Trevor Pinnock (10) were also present and chit-chatting away. It was all so cosy."You useless buggers - you have failed me again!"Fear and loathing descended upon the gathering. All eyes turned to the location of Hogwood-Blofeld's hand lest it slip under the table."I say, that's no way to talk to the team!" Jeggy replied snootily."That's exactly the way to talk to useless buggers," Hogwood-Blofeld sneered. "You're all sitting here without a care in the world while our great organisation is in peril. A threat is upon us that could completely undermine everything that we stand for - and it is a threat we have systematically failed to eliminate!"He pulled out a copy of Angela Hewitt's Bach Toccatas and threw it down the table."Take a long hard look, Comrades! This could be our obituary! Mind you, it could just as easily have been her Well Tempered Klavier, the Goldberg Variations or the Partitas but this will serve as an illustration!"Silence befell the room. Jeggy put down his cup of tea and warily examined the disc."For years, our Ministry of Propaganda has told the market that this repertoire cannot possibly be played on a Steinway with the requisite care for dynamics and inner voices. Then along comes Ms Hewitt. Our Canadian adversary is deeply alive to the dance element in Bach. She is the master of the long lines in his fugues. Her refinement and technical address are peerless. She even has the effrontery to use the pedal to great effect without veering into Romanticism. She is also infectiously fun in the toccatas themselves - and yet why was this disc ever made? Hewitt should have been pushing up daisies long ago!"Hogwood-Blofeld turned venomously to Number 5."Do I have to do everything myself? Can't you organise a simple assassination?""But Number 1, I did my best!" Jacobs squealed back shrilly. Hogwood-Blofeld wagged a finger at his subordinate."The exploding Steinway was a fizzer; coating the score of the toccatas with arsenic did not work either; the attempt to drop a piano on Hewitt's head as she left her Montreal apartment was likewise a dud - her pet poodle was crushed instead. Why does it have to be so damned elaborate? What is wrong with organising a contract-killer? There's plenty of them in the phone-book!""But Number 1, that's not how we do things here at SPECTRE!"Hogwood-Blofeld was about to send Jacobs to a fiery doom when Jeggy commented."That's strange. I thought Hyperion produced this disc, not `Universal Imports', whoever they are.""Don't open it - it's a booby-trap!" Hogwood-Blofeld shrieked.Too late he cried. Jeggy opened the cover to reveal a mini-MP3 player with speakers. Seconds later, the silvery tone of Angela Hewitt playing the D Major Toccata filled the room. Pandemonium reigned - it was akin to vampires being accosted by the True Cross. Hogwood Blofeld leapt to his feet, seized the disc, pushed Jacobs out of his chair and then despatched the item into the incinerator below. It took the better part of an hour for the High Command of SPECTRE to regain their composure."This means war," Number One declared at last as he reached for a red-phone and dialled M for Melchizedek - the Amazonian High Priest of HIP. "Our troubles are about to end!"

Angela Hewitt is, incontestably, the outsatanding performer of Bach on the piano. Here she is at her very best, although it must be said that she rarely slips below that! All but the most die-hard authenticists should not hesitate to make an investment that they will not regret

Many know the famous story of how an eager, young Bach journeyed 10 days by foot to a distant village to hear the great organist Buxtehude, staying many months longer than he was given permission. It is fortunate probably that he stayed so long to learn from this master - for such early yet luminous works like the toccatas here clearly show the influence of this virtuositic organist and his free, improvisatorial manner of composing (termed "stylus fantasticus"). In her abundant and well-written liner notes, Hewitt quotes one authority on this style: "It is the most free and unrestrained method of composing; it is bound to nothing, neither to words nor to a melodic subject; it was instituted to display genius and to teach hidden design of harmony and the ingenious composition of harmonic phrases and fugues." While not purposely written as a grouping or teaching tool, these seven so-called Toccatas were assembled together based on these characteristics. They are free displays of virtuosity with daring runs of scales, arpeggios and the like - music full of vitality yet free of form for the most part.The 2005 Gramophone Guide gave this CD the top "Gold Star" rating (3/3 stars) and concluded: "Her performances could hardly be more stylish or impeccable, more vital or refined; and the Hyperion sounds is superb." ... Penguin Guide summarizes Hewitt's playing of these works this way: "We have no hesitation in declaring this the most stimulating and rewarding CD of these complex and episodic works on any instrument, consistently showing Bach's youthful explorations at their most stimulating." The Hyperion sound too is excellent and full bodied.Indeed, there is much variety, inventiveness and drama in this music that Angela Hewitt brings out to the fullest - from the songful and even contemplative slower interludes to rippling demisemiquaver scales that open some pieces to the powerful, complex fugues. Perhaps the richest aspect of Hewitt's playing here is her ability to skillfully and subtly shape the repeating episodes within the fugues by her nuances of color and dynamics. Many of these fugues have short themes that Bach incessently repeats throughout the piece (a famous trait of Bach that he is able to pull off to great effect). With most composers or playing, such repeated motiffs would quickly become monotonous or grating to the ear - as some Toccatas can be on the harpsichord as Hewitt points out. But, with Bach's skillful contrapunctal writing and Hewitt's imaginative playing, she transforms these repetative fugal sections into music of wonderous appeal and fascination - building an unfolding drama within the piece to great effect. The G-minor and D-minor Tocattas are fine examples of how Hewitt's subtle touches transforms these incessent fugues into lumanscent wonders.One recording of the Toccata in C-minor that is quite interesting by comparison is that of Martha Argerich. While not noted for her playing of Bach, Miss Argerich in the early 80's put to disc a dynamic performance of this Toccata (along with a Partita and English suite on DG). Listening to Ms. Argerich's performance reminds one of the powerful tone and command Bach must have had as a church organist or harpsichordist. She plays with an emboldened confidence that brings great drama and a sense of authority to the music. Hearing this version along side Angela Hewitt's performance helps to illuminate Miss Hewitt's style more clearly - which is one of longer, more-lyrical flow with a notably beautiful tone and something intangible that might be best called a "heartfelt quality." Her C-minor Toccata exudes a tangible charm brimming with emotive qualities compared to Argerich's more punchy, more "intellectual" reading. Yet, Hewitt's more personal involvement is without idiosyncratic touches or self-aggrandizement for the most part. Rather, her Toccatas - as in all her playing - never sound heavy-handed but rather bring out the expressive textures of the music with her great nuances of coloration and more delicate touch - while still retaining a cool, confident virtuosity that is required to play Bach.So, overall Hewitt's Toccata set here is at the top of the class as Penguin Guide and Gramophone notes. With repeated listening, it has become a favorite of her entire discography - part for Bach's fascinating composing and part from Hewitt's sparking and full-of-life pianism.