2007-01-06 / The Times, London / Rick Jones

Angela Hewitt
Rameau
(Hyperion)

Hewitt, performing on a favoured Fazioli piano, is on top form in these three keyboard suites by Rameau, the French contemporary of Bach and Handel. Speeds are steady, rhythms crisp and real singing tunes emerge from the harmonic weft like patterns in knitting — which is the title of the first piece, Les Tricotets, in the Suite in G. It is followed by The Indifferent, which describes not its modesty but a slightly melancholy, throwaway effortlessness captured beautifully by Hewitt. Even pecking at the keys in The Hen she manages to express the sadness of futility. This interpretative level is maintained throughout the CD. The year is off to a flyer.