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Title: Angela Hewitt – Piano Music by Emmanuel Chabrier (2006)
Genre: Classical
Format: MCH SACD ISO + DSF DSD64 + Hi-Res FLAC

Angela Hewitt, renowned for her masterful Bach, Chopin, Couperin, Messiaen, and Ravel recordings on Hyperion, brings her technical polish and expressive depth to Emmanuel Chabrier’s keyboard works in a 2004 release, delivering colorful, idiomatic performances of late nineteenth-century miniatures. While Chabrier’s music ranges from sophisticated pieces like Aubade, Habanera, and Bourrée fantasque to the charming posthumous Ballabile, Caprice, and Feuillet d’album, the Dix pièces pittoresques and earlier Impromptu and Ronde champêtre often lean toward trite, superficial salon fare with occasional hints of Ravel-like innovation. Hewitt’s sensitivity and skill elevate these works, making them sound more compelling than their sometimes shallow nature might warrant, though her choice of repertoire may not thrill fans as much as her usual selections. Hyperion’s sublime recording quality perfectly showcases Hewitt’s brilliance and panache, cementing her status as a leading interpreter despite the mixed appeal of Chabrier’s compositions.

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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.

hraudio | allmusic | discogs

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