For Rameau on the piano, Angela Hewitt proves just as gorgeous in her realizations as Tzimon Barto on Ondine, but with a million times the intelligence, stylistic awareness, and taste. Helped by her Fazioli concert grand’s bright edge, Hewitt demonstrates that the nooks and crannies of Rameau’s ornamentation not only work on the piano but also benefit from the instrument’s capacity for dynamic nuances. Hewitt’s varied articulation and tonal shading arise from the music’s dance origins and are never “pianistic” for their own sake. Sometimes Hewitt may taper a phrase to slightly precious effect or time a cadence with just a smidgen of archness, but her glorious rhythmic sense and crisply centered trills and mordents offer vivid compensation.
And if harpsichordists can shift registrations, why not Hewitt? I love how her repeats in Le rappel des oiseaux tweet and twitter an octave higher than in the score. Hewitt also discreetly enhances textures by placing certain bass notes down the octave. All told, this is the finest Rameau piano disc since Marcelle Meyer’s classic 1953 cycle, and I look forward to more. As usual, Hewitt’s annotations are well researched and reader-friendly, while Hyperion’s engineering is vivid and detailed, if slightly bass shy (I have not heard the SACD version). [3/27/2007]
