Angela Hewitt - Franz Liszt: Piano Sonata, Dante Sonata, Petrarch Sonnets (2015)

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Angela Hewitt - Franz Liszt: Piano Sonata, Dante Sonata, Petrarch Sonnets (2015)

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Canadian pianist Angela Hewitt, mostly known as a Bach specialist, would seem an unlikely choice for Liszt's Piano Sonata in B minor, and indeed she has said that she herself disliked the piece until introduced to it by a teacher. Certainly Hewitt's reading of the work is unusual, and for those with a vision of the Liszt sonata involving lots of pounding on the keyboard or even just a grand statement of Romantic pianism, it's probably best to look elsewhere. On the other hand, Hewitt's reading is both coherent and competent, and it can boast abundant historical justification to boot. First of all, Liszt's pianos of 1853, although a long way advanced from Beethoven's, weren't capable of anything like the volume produced on grand pianos in concert halls these days; Hewitt's more restrained playing is probably closer to the historical norm. More important, Beethoven is the point of reference for Hewitt's performance in a way that earlier recordings of the Piano Sonata in B minor have not been. It's no accident that for her Liszt recording, Hewitt chooses the piano sonata and the "Fantasia quasi Sonata" Après une lecture du Dante as the two bookends, with the three Petrarch Sonnets as an entr'acte. The Piano Sonata in B minor is marked by close attention to line and motive rather than volume and speed, and the little bits of the original theme as they go by in the slow sections and the demonic fugues are especially clearly delineated. The sonata is divided into five separate tracks, emphasizing the traditional multi-movement sonata structure that's very much present in the work, and Hewitt's phrasing supports this aspect. Hyperion's recording in the Jesus-Christus-Kirche of Berlin, an institution whose doors Liszt would hardly have darkened at this point, is undistinguished, but this is a recording that will be prized for originality by those who love Liszt's only sonata.

Review by James Manheim, Allmusic.com

Writing in her personal and engaging notes, Angela Hewitt tells us that Liszt’s B minor Sonata is ‘quite simply one of the greatest works ever written for the piano by any composer’ and, continuing, that it is music that makes you realise ‘that our everyday worries are so trivial and unimportant’. And so it is in her superbly serious performance, one that eschews all personal vanity, all preening mannerism and flamboyance but which, with strength in abundance, locates the still centre at the heart of Liszt’s raging heroics. What enviable poise and expressive beauty to launch the central Andante, what muffled and sustained opening octaves (in this she follows both her own inclination and also Brendel’s rather than Horowitz’s sharp cut-off), what concentrated focus rather than a breathless hurtle through the final section’s fugue. Her coda, too, breaths ‘glassy sighs and threats’; and if there is one concession to display (a bass reinforcement), well, why not? Despite a catalogue brimming over with greatness – Horowitz (his early 1938 recording), Arrau, Brendel, Gilels, Argerich, Richter, et al – Hewitt holds her own to such an extent that she makes you forget all about odious comparisons and listen instead to one of the great milestones in all music.

If her Petrarch Sonnets and Dante Fantasia (Liszt’s ‘other’ sonata) don’t quite reach this exalted level, they are nonetheless front-rank performances. There is a richly inclusive sense in the Sonnets of ardour and reflection (‘I fear, yet hope, I burn, yet am turned to ice’ and ‘I beheld on earth angelic grace’). Hewitt’s Dante Sonata is a vibrant and intensely musical alternative to Volodos’s stunning virtuoso recreation (Sony Classical, 6/10). Hyperion’s sound and presentation are as immaculate as ever and there is ample breathing space between each item. This is possibly the very finest of Angela Hewitt’s many recordings.

Review by Bryce Morrison, Gramophone

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Angela Hewitt - Franz Liszt: Piano Sonata, Dante Sonata, Petrarch Sonnets (2015)

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Angela Hewitt - Franz Liszt: Piano Sonata, Dante Sonata, Petrarch Sonnets (2015)

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Angela Hewitt - Franz Liszt: Piano Sonata, Dante Sonata, Petrarch Sonnets (2015)

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