Composer: George Frideric Handel, Franz Joseph Haydn
Performer: Angela Hewitt
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Hyperion
Catalogue: CDA67736
Release: 2009
Size: 495 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
01. Handel: Keyboard Suite, HWV 435 (Chaconne) in G major
Handel: Keyboard Suite, HWV 427 in F major
02. I. Adagio
03. II. Allegro
04. III. Adagio
05. IV. Allegro: Fugue
Handel: Keyboard Suite, HWV 433 in F minor
06. I. Prelude
07. II. Allegro: Fugue
08. III. Allemande
09. IV. Courante
10. V. Gigue
11. Haydn: Andante & Variations in F minor, Hob.XVII:6 (Sonata – un piccolo divertimento)
Haydn: Piano Sonata No. 62 in E flat major, Hob.XVI:52
12. I. Allegro moderato
13. II. Adagio
14. III. Finale: Presto
Angela Hewitt’s 2009 Hyperion disc of keyboard works by Handel and Haydn suggests that with her playing of Bach and Beethoven, the Canadian pianist has been taking time away from what she clearly ought to be doing, because she seems ideally equipped for the music of Handel and Haydn. She has the clarity of tone to elucidate the lines and the dexterity of technique to articulate the filigree, the intensity to get down in the slow movements and the velocity to get going in the fast movements. While those qualities would serve her equally well with any composer, Hewitt also has the vivacity of spirit to bring these particular composers’ music to life. Her take on Handel’s Chaconne in G major and suites in F major and F minor captures all the nuances of that composer’s characteristic invention. Her approach to Haydn’s Variations in F minor and Sonata in E flat major reveals all the subtleties of that composer’s distinctive warmth and wit, as well as, in the Variations, his dry-eyed pathos. Recorded in crystalline digital sound, this disc deserves to be heard by all of Hewitt’s fans, as well as her detractors.