≈ 2 hours · With intermission
Last updated: January 5, 2024
Program
*The first half will be played without a break. Please hold applause until intermission.*
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH Selected Preludes and Fugues from The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I
Prelude and Fugue in C major, BWV 846
Prelude and Fugue in C minor, BWV 847
Prelude and Fugue in D major, BWV 850
Prelude and Fugue in D minor, BWV 851
Prelude and Fugue in C-sharp major, BWV 848
Prelude and Fugue in C-sharp minor, BWV 849
FELIX MENDELSSOHN Prelude and Fugue in E minor, Op. 35, No. 1
DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH Prelude and Fugue No. 18 in F minor
SAMUEL BARBER Fugue from the Piano Sonata in E-flat minor, Op. 26
INTERMISSION
ROBERT SCHUMANN Sonata No. 1 in F-sharp minor, Op. 11
I. Introduzione: Un poco adagio – Allegro vivace
II. Aria
III. Scherzo e Intermezzo: Allegrissimo – Lento
IV. Finale: Allegro un poco maestoso
Program Notes
As much as I adore performing the Preludes and Fugues of The Well-Tempered Clavier by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750), he is not the only composer who turned his hand to this genre for keyboard. I thought it would therefore be interesting to hear a sequence of works including Bach, of course, but also preludes and fugues by Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847), Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975), and the American composer Samuel Barber (1910–1981)—played without interruption and thus, hopefully, enhancing the effect.
The Mendelssohn and Barber are works I performed frequently in my teenage years, and my admiration for them has not faded with time. Mendelssohn’s fugue begins quietly, and then builds to a tremendous climax with the introduction of a chorale, very similar to Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott (A Mighty Fortress is Our God). It is a truly inspired moment, as is the quiet conclusion.
The Shostakovich is a more recent addition to my repertoire, learned for an evening of words and music I gave several years ago in Vienna with British author Julian Barnes, whose novel The Noise of Time is about Shostakovich. Barber’s Piano Sonata (written in 1949 for Vladimir Horowitz) finishes with a jazzy Fugue—a brilliant piece of writing for the piano, which Barber said could be performed separately. As Bach’s music has been a great source of inspiration for many jazz musicians, its inclusion in tonight’s program seems very appropriate.
Robert Schumann’s (1810–1856) grand Sonata No. 1 in F-sharp minor, Op. 11 was also one of my “war horses” as a young pianist. I remember performing it in the 1977 Schumann Competition in Zwickau (then East Germany). Schumann described it to his beloved Clara as “a cry from my heart to yours,” and indeed it’s one of his most overtly passionate works. It is a piece I love with all my heart, and which was crucial in my own emotional development as a pianist and person. It will be a pleasure for me to share the great sweep of this work with you.
In the early days of their marriage, Robert and Clara studied the Preludes and Fugues of J.S. Bach together. Robert once wrote: “Let The Well-Tempered Clavier be your daily bread. Then you will certainly become a solid musician.” I think the Schumanns would be happy to have the Sonata Op. 11 presented in the same program as Bach’s glorious works.
© Angela Hewitt 2023
Repertoire
Selected Preludes and Fugues from The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I
Prelude and Fugue in E minor, Op. 35, No. 1
Prelude and Fugue No. 18 in F minor
Fugue from the Piano Sonata in E-flat minor, Op. 26
Sonata No. 1 in F-sharp minor, Op. 11
Artists
Angela Hewitt occupies a unique position among today’s leading pianists. With a wide-ranging repertoire and frequent appearances in recital and with major orchestras throughout Europe, the Americas, and Asia, she is also an award-winning recording artist. Described as “one of the record glories of our age” (The Sunday Times), Hewitt’s cycle for Hyperion Records of all the major keyboard works of J.S. Bach have established her as one of the composer’s foremost interpreters. Her discography also includes all 32 sonatas of Beethoven, and albums of Couperin, Rameau, Scarlatti, Chopin, R. Schumann, Liszt, Fauré, Debussy, Chabrier, Ravel, and Messiaen.
The first CD of three Mozart albums, dedicated to the composer’s complete sonatas, was released in November 2022, with the second released in October 2023. In 2023, Hewitt’s complete catalogue is available on all major streaming platforms.
The 2023–2024 season sees her performing with orchestras in Italy, Finland, Poland, Estonia, and Switzerland, including on tour in the U.K. with Kammerorchester Basel as well as a tour of northeast England with Royal Northern Sinfonia. Recitals take her to, among others, Boston, Baltimore, Toronto, Ottawa, Rome, Zurich, Copenhagen, Cambridge, and Stresa. She is also an artist-in-residence at London’s Wigmore Hall.
Born into a musical family in Ottawa, Angela Hewitt’s father Godfrey was organist and choirmaster at Christ Church Cathedral for half a century. At the age of three she began piano lessons with her mother, Marion. She later studied with Jean-Paul Sévilla at the University of Ottawa, and in 1985 won the Toronto International Bach Piano Competition which launched her career. In 2018 Angela received the Governor General’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 2015 she received the highest honour from her native country—becoming a Companion of the Order of Canada (which is given to only 165 living Canadians at any one time). In 2006 she was awarded an OBE from Queen Elizabeth II. She is a member of the Royal Society of Canada, has seven honorary doctorates, and is a Visiting Fellow of Peterhouse College in Cambridge. In 2020 Hewitt was awarded the Wigmore Medal in recognition of her services to music and relationship with the hall over 35 years. Also in 2020, she received the City of Leipzig Bach Medal: a huge honour that for the first time in its 17-year history was awarded to a woman.
Angela lives in London but also has homes in Ottawa and Umbria, Italy where, 18 years ago, she founded the Trasimeno Music Festival—a week-long annual event which draws an audience from all over the world.
Angela Hewitt plays a Fazioli piano.
- Official Car of the NAC Orchestra
