Angela Hewitt : Bach Performance on the Piano, Excerpt 3

[margellinanapoli]

Watching how musician are cooking their stuff is a most boring experience. in Art only the result matters...i understand the Fazioli group needs advertising but pls, leave Bach away from that business. On a stylistical aspect, Mrs Hewitt is a pure copy of Gould...and i definitely do not think that Gould was right in his interpretative choices. For that very reason : Bach has nothing to do with Science, as Gould and his Time thought...he has to do with Faith.

[mikegallegos7]

Thank you very, very much. The more I play Bach, the more I extend my effort to apply appropriate character - but problem is, lol, I sometimes get fickle and alter the character I worked hard to achieve and settle on an unexpected simplicty, something not so hard to attain: as I study Bach, I often find the simpler application prevails but remains unknown until the effort and ability to play several character types are available. Bach is a fascinating study. Thanks again. Have a nice day.

[flutetalker]

According to his biographers Gould was far from spiritual, but rather nervous, neurotic and hypochondriacal. I love his playing, his percussive approach, his singing along. I adore Hewitt's playing of Bach, her dedication to the highest standards of interpretation and technical mastery, her willingness to share her knowledge, her love of the music.

[ClassicalOJazz]

Bach is not to be played by a computer.

Gould was Good, not God.

Angela Hewitt is an excellent Bach performer (along with Helene Grimaud and Murray Perhaia).

But if you insist on a "Gould-rule-based" performance, notice that:

1) "two hundred years ago, the performer had much more leeway. "

2) "the eighteenth century made it not only customary but Mandatory for a performer to add his own ornaments and cadenzas"

(form the book Great Pianists by Harold Schonberg)

[oomphlau]

Marian, I have made general statements about Gould and Hewitt, pointing out for one thing the apparent difference in their temperaments and that I get from Gould the spiritual aspect of Bach not evident in Hewitt. Don't dwell on the little things, such as the "lilt," when you read what I'm saying, but rather consider the broader observations such as Hewitt's general lack of real empathy with the Baroque style. And again, I repeat, she is a very fine pianist, but better suited to Chopin.

[oomphlau]

Trying to pinpoint the reasons why Hewitt is off base is probably a thankless task, because the problem is subtle. She lacks the charisma, the passion, and most of all, the spirituality of Glenn Gould. Bach's music is primarily spiritual (I don't mean religious)—unlike most other composers except, for instance, Beethoven in his last period. Hewitt is too ego-involved to understand this. Her manner is off-putting and pretentions, but she is a fine pianist—just invoking the wrong pianistic style.

[oomphlau]

We're confronted here with a deep disagreement about style. Everything she plays here is wrong and un-Baroque. She' making it sound like Chopin. Her "double dots" which she thinks gives it more character, does the opposite—it trivializes it. She's using scholarship as an excuse for rubato, the bane of the Baroque style. She's taking Bach and trying to insert mannerisms which appeal to the modern ear which has been corrupted by a century of Romantic style, and what Gould instinctively eschewed.

[mariandelochs]

@oomphlau

Yes, and that's all it is - a disagreement in style.  You are certainly entitled to your own opinion, but I seriously doubt that J. S. himself would've been so closed-minded as to follow your strict pronouncements about any piece of his.

[version191]

@mariandelochs Why not be specific about why you think her style works instead of making the incredibly bogus move of trying to assume what Bach would have approved of. Many great composers were intolerable pendants about their music, you have no idea what he would have wanted.

[mariandelochs]

@version191

None of us would. 'Incredibly bogus'? - bah, that was my opinion, bogus to you or not. I'm no musicologist or pedant - all I know is that Hewitt brings life, sparkle, a propulsive rhythm and momentum to Bach.

[oomphlau]

@mariandelochs As I have said before, Hewitt is a fine pianist, and if Glenn Gould had never existed I would by grateful for her Bach. But Gould did exist, and he showed us how to play Bach. I believe the things in Hewitt's playing I don't like are more a function of her temperament more than a breach of style. If you listen closely you'll hear her playing some passages with a little "lilt," which trivializes the music — because everything Bach wrote is spiritual. He couldn't help himself.

[mariandelochs]

@oomphlau

Sorry to disagree. Don't know how that supposed little 'lilt' trivialises the music. There will continue to be a difference of opinion between you and me and others of like mind about Hewitt's Bach, so I think I'll just leave it at that. You are very welcome to not like Hewitt's Bach, but that is only *your* opinion, as it is her opinion of how she prefers to interpret Bach. Glenn Gould revolutionised the interpretation of Bach and I count him as one of my Bach interpretive greats,

[mariandelochs]

@oomphlau

continued...but, are we to remain stuck with Gould as the be-all and end-all of all things keyboard Bach? I think not, and his is also his own interpretation of how Bach should sound like. I understand your having a 'gold' (or 'Gould'?) standard, but discounting everyone else's opinion who isn't Gould gets us nowhere, and is unproductive.

[version191]

@oomphlau Agreed. I think she just wants to show of her obviously very good articulation skills. She talks about how much more complex the phrasing she uses is, and perhaps it is, but to me it sounds incredibly dull.

[mariandelochs]

What the hell is the big deal with Hewitt's accent and manner of speech for some folks??? So she should sport a 'working class English accent' or something? She's originally Canadian, and when some people live for long in a different place, they can adopt the linguistic mannerisms of the place they now reside in. She aims to be articulate - as articulate as playing Bach properly. Can we put this inane issue to rest now?

[povynoif009999]

I agree about her voice... I understand wanting to sound proper. Especially in music, speaking in a way on par with the upper class of Britain is necessary to gain the respect of some. But music is about the beauty of the sound and exploring emotions, both of the audience and yourself, seems to me that consciously altering ones voice goes against the very beauty and openness of music.

[tyedrooms]

quite~~~



[jazzwatcher]

Great pianist! Great speaker, synaptically super in her thoughts and precision.

A true inspiration to all who believe in music and Bach would adore her as most of the planet who truly studies music . She is a contrapuntal genius for all who study Baroque music!

[byng51028]

@ausrotten9 What in the world is your problem? People do move different places and their accents do change. Have you only lived in Gum Rubber Gulch?

[ausrotten9]

She has contorted her enunciations so much - it is hard to listen to her. And she is Canadian isn't she? Who is she trying to fool besides herself. Great pianist, amazing Bach player, but she needs to drop the fake English posh boisgiose crap. Maybe living among the fake european 'intelligensia' has killed the girl inside her - they prolly give her caviar after every show. The only nasty side I can see in classical music - it was composed for the upper class elite. She seems to bask in it.

[mariandelochs]

@ausrotten9 Wow, I'm amazed. So you know everything going on with Hewitt now, do you? Did you know her before she moved to London? You presume too much, my dear fellow. Ms Hewitt is one of the most HARDWORKING pianists on earth! She doesn't even travel with a huge entourage, and she lugs her own baggage around, too. So you don't happen to like her way of speaking. So???

Now, have you anything to say about the music and performance, perhaps? Or that part doesn't really interest you?

[ausrotten9]

@mariandelochs Forgive me if that seemed overly harsh. heh. I own most of her recordings and admire them... especially the dancelike nature she gives to the suites. I still (partially) agree with my earlier statement. It is no coincidence that she doesn't flaunt a working class english accent. ...It's the sort of Rosalyn Tureck syndrome you find among some pianists. (Tureck is one of my favorite pianists, and believe it or not, Hewitt is up there among Bach players) Ignore my last post :D

[yumeybaconcutout]

@ausrotten9 i do agree with you, she should definitely lose the accent. i love the way she says prelude

[acbulgin2]

@ausrotten9 This is an instructional video. I have oft noted that directors/producers of such require this kind of school marmish enunciation in part I guess because the videos are intended for international distribution most likely with a limited number of options as regards subtitles. So if she does not speak like a seductress with the aim of charming a rotten art freak, there is probably a reason. Look at this one on Youtube: "how to play blackbird!" (sic). Type it in w/o quotes.

[pianoman8590]

@ausrotten9 Also... have you any knowledge of Baroque music? I'm not sure what "upper class elite" you're referring to, but I assure you MUCH of what survives was commonplace in the day. If you'll notice here, and many accounts in history, for something to survive the ages, it must be popular to a public audience, which without a doubt, is incomparable to today's ruling middle class and its even distribution of wealth.

Give your comments a little more thought next time :)

[atsaka]

FAZIOLI!!!

[bevkintube]

Absolutely gorgeous Invention - lovely phrasing, tone, flexibility. Brava!

[la200o]

This is just superb in all respects!