This week's classical CDs reviewed
BACH: WELL-TEMPEREDCLAVIER
Angela Hewitt (piano) Hyperion CDA 67741/4 (4 CDs for the price of 3)★★★
A change of piano (from Steinway to Fazioli) some 10 years, a protracted world tour devoted to Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, and just seven minutes' playing time separate Angela Hewitt's first Hyperion recording of Bach's great work from her new one. The tone of the Fazioli is clearer and lighter than the Steinway and, it would seem, less encumbering. Hewitt now plays the music with greater freedom, and does a great deal to make it much more her own. She's hot on contour, legato, linearity, and not afraid to pull things around or zone in for a close-up on lines she wants to highlight. In terms of piano sound, I prefer the new, in terms of musical temperament the old. www.tinyurl.com/5jub7c
TRIOS FOR FLUTE, VIOLA AND HARP
Triocca RTÉ lyric fm CD 122★★★
The world of trios for flute, viola and harp is a world of haunting sound combinations. But it's one most composers have steered clear of, choosing to show their respect for Debussy's achievement in his late Sonata for flute, viola and harp by staying out of the field. On their debut CD, the members of Triocca – Ríona Ó Duinnín, Nancy Johnston and Geraldine O'Doherty – play the piece with greater concern for detail than for overall shape, and take a similar directness of approach to Bax's near-contemporaneous Elegiac Trio. Two commissions for Triocca (Eric Sweeney's jaunty, baldly minimalist Walk/Don't Walk, and Philip Martin's romantic Fantasymixing melancholy and dance) and two arrangements (a Telemann trio sonata and Harty's In Ireland) complete this enterprising disc. www.tinyurl.com/qjq34e
COMPLETE PUBLISHED EMI RECORDINGS, 1926-55
Pablo Casals (cello) EMI Classics 694 9322 (9 CDs)★★★★
During the 19th century, the cello never basked in the soloistic eminence that it had earlier enjoyed. It fell to one man, Pablo Casals, to turn things around. He revolutionised playing technique, was responsible for bringing Bach’s solo cello music before the public, and, with pianist Alfred Cortot and violinist Jacques Thibaud, played in the most celebrated chamber ensemble of his time. Casals’s most famous recordings are all collected here: the trio recordings, the Bach suites, the Beethoven sonatas, and the recordings of the Elgar and Dvorak concertos, as well as a disc of encore pieces and sardanas. Even in EMI’s rather too smooth transfers, all you can do is listen in wonder at the inimitable pliability of tone and inspired phrasing. www.emiclassics.com
PURCELL: FANTAZIAS
Fretwork Harmonia Mundi HMU 907502★★★
David Pinto pulls no punches in his CD note about Purcell’s Fantazias for viol consort. He calls them “living fossils that stayed unrecognised until the 20th century . . . marvels of marquetry with secret compartments, hidden gems”. And he’s absolutely right. Purcell chose to write his Fantazias at a time when their intricate contrapuntal wizardry had gone quite out of fashion, and the pieces he completed – three written in three parts, nine in four, one in five (with one of the parts restricted to a single note) and one each in six and seven parts – are among the wonders of the musical world. Fretwork’s performances present them with sophisticated reserve rather than harmonically crunching passion. www.tinyurl.com/6mchwb
