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Topic: Angela Hewwit  (Read 3309 times)

Offline pianoboi666

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Angela Hewwit
on: May 11, 2005, 01:38:30 PM
next week I will be going to London for vacation.  I have concert tickets to see Angela Hewwit playing the Liszt B minor and the Bach Chromatic Fantasia, among other things.  I was just wondering if neone knew anything about this pianist.

Thanks,

Dan

Offline whynot

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Re: Angela Hewwit
Reply #1 on: May 11, 2005, 03:00:09 PM
She's really known for her Bach playing.  I haven't heard her do anything else.  I think she used to be a dancer, and her "thing" is that she knows the early dance forms (as a dancer), and that is said to be her particular insight into the music.  Someone jump in if I'm wrong!  I've heard her live in some Bach.  She has great hands, the playing was a little frantic but good.  If you're into performance practice, she doesn't do all the detailed articulations that some do, but she can definitely play.  Someone on this forum said her Lizst was great, too, didn't they?  There's a thread from not too long ago.  She played in my area recently and did a master class for some of my fellow students the weekend of the concert.   You could check with the nearest music school and see if that's happening.  She specified no Bach in the master class (?).  Have fun!   

Offline pizno

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Re: Angela Hewwit
Reply #2 on: May 11, 2005, 05:36:31 PM
She rocks!  Look at her website.

Offline pseudopianist

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Re: Angela Hewwit
Reply #3 on: May 11, 2005, 06:28:48 PM
She is an amazing Bach player. I would recomend you give her French Suites a listen.
Whisky and Messiaen

Offline bernhard

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Re: Angela Hewwit
Reply #4 on: May 11, 2005, 10:15:07 PM
I second that. Angela Hewitt is an extraordinary pianist :D. Besides Bach she plays a lot of modern repertory (in particular Messiaen). She recently released a CD with the Chopin Nocturnes (I have not heard it – it received mixed reviews – some people loved it, some hated it). Besides her Bach, I do recommend you hear her Couperin (I do not know of any other artist who has recorded Couperin on the piano).

Have a look here where she wrote a most interesting article about it.

https://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,929595,00.html

Best wishes,
Bernhard.
The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side. (Hunter Thompson)

Offline Noah

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Re: Angela Hewwit
Reply #5 on: May 12, 2005, 08:10:43 PM
I do not know of any other artist who has recorded Couperin on the piano.

Cziffra recorded some Couperin!
'Some musicians don't believe in God, but all believe in Bach'
M. Kagel

Offline bernhard

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Re: Angela Hewwit
Reply #6 on: May 12, 2005, 09:02:07 PM
Cziffra recorded some Couperin!

Actually, I just remembered that Sokolov did too. :-[
The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side. (Hunter Thompson)

Offline Noah

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Re: Angela Hewwit
Reply #7 on: May 13, 2005, 06:49:09 PM
Actually, I just remembered that Sokolov did too. :-[

Oh yeah... Sokolov's Couperin (I only heard the Couperin he plays as encores on his live in Paris cd) and his Rameau are fantastic (just like everything else he plays!).

About Angela Hewitt... her Bach is certainly beautiful but a bit underplayed/ uneventful for my taste.
'Some musicians don't believe in God, but all believe in Bach'
M. Kagel

Offline SteinwayTony

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Re: Angela Hewwit
Reply #8 on: May 14, 2005, 06:33:48 PM
Ms. Hewitt's Nocturnes are truly well done.  For me, they're not really the "reference recording" that Rubinstein's is, but they are very thoughtful renditions.  Anyone who says otherwise will engage you in an argument where they say "they weren't musical," which is just lazy-speak for "eh, didn't like em."

Offline krittyot

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Re: Angela Hewwit
Reply #9 on: May 15, 2005, 06:55:46 AM
Hewitt and Schiff sound very similar to each other, especially WTC.
To be is to do (I. Kant)
To do is to be (A. Sartre)
Do-be-do-be-do (F. Sinatra)
Yabba-Dabba-Doo! (F. Flinstone)

Offline dinosaurtales

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Re: Angela Hewwit
Reply #10 on: May 15, 2005, 05:39:46 PM
She plays wonderfully!  I can't imagine how she would play romantic music - I have only heard her Bach.  Which sort of fascinates me.  If I could play that well, I certainly wouldn't waste my time on Bach!  yuck.
So much music, so little time........

Offline Alde

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Re: Angela Hewwit
Reply #11 on: May 23, 2005, 06:11:41 PM
She plays wonderfully!  I can't imagine how she would play romantic music - I have only heard her Bach.  Which sort of fascinates me.  If I could play that well, I certainly wouldn't waste my time on Bach!  yuck.

"Waste time on Bach!" what kind of a comment is this?  Bach's music has endured for 400 years and will most likely last another 400.

Offline Noah

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Re: Angela Hewwit
Reply #12 on: May 23, 2005, 06:54:10 PM
If I could play that well, I certainly wouldn't waste my time on Bach!  yuck.

Oh dear...
'Some musicians don't believe in God, but all believe in Bach'
M. Kagel

Offline BoliverAllmon

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Re: Angela Hewwit
Reply #13 on: May 27, 2005, 11:34:48 AM
  If I could play that well, I certainly wouldn't waste my time on Bach!  yuck.


OOOOKKKAAAYYYY!!!!!????

Offline rachmaninoff_969

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Re: Angela Hewwit
Reply #14 on: May 28, 2005, 03:55:15 PM
Angela Hewitt plays a magnificent Bach and her Beethoven is pretty damn good (I heard her play the 3rd concerto a few months ago).  I have never heard her play anything Lisztian so that remains a mystery to me...but you're in for a HUGE treat with the Bach.

- A

Offline quasimodo

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Re: Angela Hewwit
Reply #15 on: June 14, 2005, 12:08:21 PM
For some unexplainable reason I had a negative prejudice about Ms Hewitt but lately I listened to a lot of her recordings, Bach of course and also Messiaen, Ravel and Couperin and I'm totally in love.

Angela you kick a** !!!
" On ne joue pas du piano avec deux mains : on joue avec dix doigts. Chaque doigt doit être une voix qui chante"

Samson François

Offline Belgedin

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Re: Angela Hewwit
Reply #16 on: June 15, 2005, 02:42:19 AM
Quote
Which sort of fascinates me.  If I could play that well, I certainly wouldn't waste my time on Bach!  yuck.

 >:( You smell.

Offline maxy

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Re: Angela Hewwit
Reply #17 on: June 15, 2005, 03:49:05 AM
Hewitt and Schiff sound very similar to each other, especially WTC.

very funny!
Hewitt was attending a Schiff Bach recital.  During intermission, she was elaborating on how much she disliked his interpretation. 

The funiest "critic" I heard about Hewitt's playing was: "she sounds like someone badly in need of sex.  Her playing lacks some "umph""

Offline quasimodo

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Re: Angela Hewwit
Reply #18 on: June 15, 2005, 07:51:26 AM
Hewitt's WTC is IMO average, not exceptionnal except some specific P&F's where she rocks. But I HATE Schiff's Bach in general (and not only Bach actually).
" On ne joue pas du piano avec deux mains : on joue avec dix doigts. Chaque doigt doit être une voix qui chante"

Samson François

Offline ramseytheii

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Re: Angela Hewwit
Reply #19 on: July 01, 2006, 05:57:41 PM
She did record some movements from the Vingt Regards and other Messiaen pieces, but I think her interpretation and technique absolutely pales in comparison with Aimard.  I don't much like the Loriod recording either, but I prefer even that to the Hewitt. 

Unfortunately I havent' heard much more of hers, except her disk of Bach Toccatas, which is just ok, sometimes even annoying, and some Couperin that was played on the radio, which I thought was really fantastic.  Earlier in the thread people were talking about pianists who recorded Couperin, do not forget Casadesus.

Walter Ramsey

Offline steinwayb

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Re: Angela Hewwit
Reply #20 on: July 01, 2006, 09:22:10 PM
One of my favourites- she is great

Offline burstroman

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Re: Angela Hewwit
Reply #21 on: July 02, 2006, 12:34:57 AM
Hewitt plays Ravel very nicely!

Offline ahinton

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Re: Angela Hewwit
Reply #22 on: July 02, 2006, 07:57:35 AM
"Waste time on Bach!" what kind of a comment is this?  Bach's music has endured for 400 years and will most likely last another 400.
How many? Your statement means that it was already enduring almost 80 years before Bach was born! I knew Bach's achievements were of monumental significance, but I didn't realise that even he could manage such a feat of time-travelling...

And yes, Ms Hewitt was a dancer in her earlier life.

Best,

Alistair
Alistair Hinton
Curator / Director
The Sorabji Archive

Offline steve_m

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Re: Angela Hewwit
Reply #23 on: July 02, 2006, 06:41:05 PM
4

Offline ahinton

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Re: Angela Hewwit
Reply #24 on: July 02, 2006, 09:53:05 PM
Well, now you do.  You learn something every day.
Er- no, I don't. But I still hope that I learn something every day, for all that. Bach's year of birth is not exactly an unknown, is it?

Best,

Alistair
Alistair Hinton
Curator / Director
The Sorabji Archive

Offline bflatminor24

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Re: Angela Hewwit
Reply #25 on: July 04, 2006, 01:24:11 AM
Where can I find a sample of her playing?

~Max~

PS I'm broke so don't post something like "Why don't you look on Amazon? They have lots of her CDs..."

No.

My favorite piano pieces - Liszt Sonata in B minor, Beethoven's Hammerklavier, Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit, Alkan's Op. 39 Etudes, Scriabin's Sonata-Fantaisie, Godowsky's Passacaglia in B minor.
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