Angela Hewitt: The Well-Tempered Klavier Book II

It is always exciting to watch a world famous musician perform live, and this time it was solo Canadian pianist Angela Hewitt, named Best Artist of 2006 by Gramaphone Magazine. On Sunday 27th April, I headed expectantly to Victoria Concert Hall with several of my MEP classmates, excited to hear her rendition of Bach's renowned Well-Tempered Klavier Book II

Much to my disappointment we arrived late, and by the time we entered, Hewitt was already on to the D Major. I was immediately entranced by her gentle rendition of my favourite piece in the collection and impressed by how subtly she brought out the intertwined lines in the fugue. But as she progressed through the first half of the programme, I was vaguely unsettled by the monotony of mood. Perhaps it was reverence for the hailed, and add to that the fact that I'm not a pianist, I did not dare to form any judgement against her.

During the interval, however, I was gently surprised to learn that many of my friends who went along were not impressed by her playing at all. Among their complaints were over usage of the suspension pedal (which according to Kwan Rui she warned against in her masterclass the previous day) , excessive tempo rubato, the deliberate obscuring of running lines etc. Reflecting on their comments, I found myself agreeing to some of their opinions. Indeed my impression of Bach's Prelude and Fugues had been one of gusto and punctuation, whereas Hewitt has decided on that night to imbue in almost every one of them an excessively, tediously phrased femininity.

"Many people still think that that's how you have to play his [Bach] music--stiff and unbending. If I can change that misconception on this tour, then I will be very happy!" - Angela Hewitt (http://www.angelahewitt.com/)

Evidently Hewitt set out to knock down some preconceptions on Bach's music, but though I think I had heard too from somewhere else that the Baroque stereotype of strict tempo and abstinence from pedaling is misguided, I found that her deliberate obscuring (for I do not doubt her technicality) of running lines while emphasizing salient phrases, and dramatic ritenuento at cadential points, though appealing to the layman, tended to rob the compositions of their polyphonic brilliance and also killed much of their kinetic drive.

I believe there could have been better renditions and perhaps less heavy repertoires, but paying $9 to watch Angela Hewitt was really a catch. Despite it being important to keep one's musical integrity, I frequently find myself deliberately overlooking differences in musical opinion so that I may just sit down for an evening and enjoy myself.