Angela Hewitt
has been better known for
Bach
than anything else, but she has increasingly turned to
Mozart
in later life, recording the piano concertos and now a cycle of the complete piano sonatas, of which this is the second volume. Outwardly, there is something a bit Bachian about her
; she avoids the pedals, her phrasing is direct and foursquare, and she plays the left-hand lines with a clarity that brings out the logic of the counterpoint. However, the beauties of these performances lie in the details, many of which are justified in
Hewitt
's own extensive notes. Part of her aim is to establish the earlier
sonatas as major works, and she succeeds in this. Although
plays a modern piano, there are historical details, especially in this volume of sonatas, the first ones in which
stepped fully into pianism. Sample the uncanny, simmering shades of the
Fantasia in D minor, D. 397
. The variation finale of the
Piano Sonata in A major, K. 331
, is also exceptionally lively and varied.
is alert to the influences on these sonatas from other genres, and she is aware of the fecund imagination
brought even to small details. The
Hyperion
label does well with the sound, leaving its usual English venues for the Kulturstiftung Marienmuenster foundation building in Germany. Satisfying, elegant
with much to chew on, and one awaits with pleasure the remainder of
's series. ~ James Manheim