Das Wohltemperirte Klavier Book 1 24 Preludes and Fugues, BWV846–869 (New 2008 recording!)

Ten years ago Angela Hewitt recorded a version of The Well-Tempered Clavier Book I which dazzled the critical world and record-buying public. It was followed shortly afterwards by Book II which was similarly received. Now, fresh from her Bach World Tour in which she performed the complete Well-Tempered Clavier from August 2007 until the end of October 2008 in 58 cities in 21 countries on six continents Angela has made an entirely new recording of this most iconic of keyboard works.

In a revealing and personal programme note, Angela explains her reasons, both artistic and emotional, for this momentous creative decision. She speaks of the ‘new-found freedom’ that she discovered in her later performances, and especially her use of Fazioli pianos, ‘whose luminous, powerful, and also ever so delicate sounds opened new worlds to me and allowed my imagination to take flight’.

This is an unmissable new release.



GRAMOPHONE EDITOR'S CHOICE

'Her best Bach yet … Not everyone can improve on the best, but it looks as if Angela Hewitt might have done just that … This is a defining moment in the performance history of the '48' … Hewitt's second thoughts, enhanced by technically outstanding recording, hold me totally enthralled' (BBC Music Magazine)

' If you aren’t hooked by her Book One C major prelude noble yet nonchalant, gently flecked with rubato rush to a doctor immediately. And on she proceeds, track after track, illuminating the music with great sensitivity and interpretative freedom. In the ten years since 1999, Hewitt’s feeling for Bach has widened. The touch of her fingers is lighter now; her pulse is more elastic. The piano, too, has changed. Now it’s a Fazioli, luminous and microscopically subtle. With Hyperion’s recording, even its reverberations are a joy; witness those lingering last notes, crowned with a halo. Fugal counterpoint, dry on the page, dances before us, multicoloured … The 2009 Hewitt protean, humane, modern but respectful, beautifully recorded is the version to live with. It would even sound good, I’m sure, on the BBC’s desert island' (The Times)

'A previous document, which draws on her development as a person and a performer over the past 10 years. Playing of this ease and assurance rarely has such a profound understanding of the material. This is no mechanical journey through the cycle of keys. This is life itself' (The Observer)

'Listening to Angela Hewitt's latest thoughts on Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier alongside her late-1990s Hyperion cycle, it appears that her interpretations haven't changed so much as evolved, intensfied and, most important, internalised … While both versions hold equal validity and stature, Hewitt's remake ultimately digs deeper, with more personalised poetry' (Gramophone)

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Recording details: September 2008; Jesus-Christus-Kirche, Berlin, Germany; Produced by Ludger Böckenhoff; Engineered by Ludger Böckenhoff; Release date: April 2009;