Title: Angela Hewitt – Jean-Philippe Rameau: Keyboard Suites (2008)
Genre: Classical
Format: DSF DSD64
Hyperion’s January Record of the Month features Baroque legend Angela Hewitt performing three of Jean-Philippe Rameau’s keyboard suites, showcasing the eighteenth-century French composer’s blend of intellectualism, passion, and tenderness on a Fazioli piano. Rameau, once a traveling violinist and provincial organist before becoming Compositeur du Cabinet du Roi, crafted some sixty keyboard works, including courtly dances like the Tambourin and programmatic pieces like Les sauvages, which Hewitt plays with crisp clarity, delicate ornamentation, and a vibrant, harpsichord-like tone. Her renditions, from the noble Courante in the A minor Suite to the tender Les Triolets and vivid Le Rappel des oiseaux, balance Parisian elegance with rhythmic vitality, making the piano feel perfectly suited to Rameau’s music. Critics praise Hewitt’s refined technique, meticulous ornamentation, and expressive touch, noting that her performances, backed by Hyperion’s vivid engineering, rival historic recordings like Marcelle Meyer’s 1953 cycle, establishing this disc as a must-have for Baroque enthusiasts.
Tracklist:
Suite in E minor [21’28]
1. Movement 1: Allemande [3’34]
2. Movement 2: Courante [1’48]
3. Movement 3a: Gigue en rondeau I [1’28]
4. Movement 3b: Gigue en rondeau II [2’44]
5. Movement 4: Le rappel des oiseaux [2’37]
6. Movement 5: Rigaudons I, II & double [2’20]
7. Movement 6: Musette en rondeau [2’45]
8. Movement 7: Tambourin [1’29]
9. Movement 8: La villageoise (rondeau) [2’43]
Suite in G minor [28’21]
10. Les tricotets (rondeau) [1’49]
11. L’indifferente [1’54]
12. Menuets I & II [3’31]
13. La poule [4’53]
14. Les triolets [4’46]
15. Les sauvages [1’53]
16. L’enharmonique [6’49]
17. L’egiptienne [2’46]
Suite No 2 in A minor [28’10]
18. Movement 1: Allemande [5’04]
19. Movement 2: Courante [3’57]
20. Movement 3: Sarabande [2’19]
21. Movement 4: Les trois mains [5’10]
22. Movement 5: Fanfarinette [2’52]
23. Movement 6: La triomphante [1’30]
24. Movement 7a: Gavotte [1’41]
25. Movement 7b: Double 1 [0’58]
26. Movement 7c: Double 2 [0’58]
27. Movement 7d: Double 3 [0’58]
28. Movement 7e: Double 4 [0’52]
29. Movement 7f: Double 5 [0’51]
30. Movement 7g: Double 6 [1’00]
Note:
Recording details: June 2006
Das Kulturzentrum Grand Hotel, Dobbiaco, Italy
Produced by Ludger Böckenhoff
Engineered by Ludger Böckenhoff
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