Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Piano Sonatas
Angela Hewitt (piano)
rec. 2023, Kulturstiftung Marienmünster, Germany
Hyperion CDA68431/2 [2 CDs: 151]

This two-disc set of Mozart sonatas from Angela Hewitt finally seems to reveal a chink in that excellent pianist’s musical armor. I had never heard the Canadian pianist in the music of Mozart, but I adore and respect her Hyperion recordings of Bach, Beethoven, Chabrier, Couperin, etc. I was thus greatly surprised to have this reaction to the new set. For the entirety of the set, tempi and affect seem somehow “off.” Invariably throughout every sonata on the two discs, the initial sonata-allegro movements feel stodgy or careful, and slow movements feel hurried. The third movements are often just right, but it’s a case of too little too late.

Take the Sonata in F Major, K. 533/494. The initial movement is marked “Allegro.” Obviously, this can mean a wide variety of tempi; as long as it’s faster than moderato and slower than presto, you’re golden, right? Hewitt picks an Allegro tempo that does not flow. She very (very!) carefully expresses every last slur and articulation indicated by Mozart, dishes up a wide variety of colors, voices chords with care, shapes arpeggios to the nth degree, and plays with a subtle sense of rubato that perfectly suits the music, but the performance is stilted. I should note that if she had managed to achieve all her musical goals while using a slightly more flowing tempo that allowed the music speak more naturally, this would likely be a reference performance of the music. The second movement is equally brilliant in terms of the detail work, but now the music feels at times as if it is being uncomfortably ushered forward. (This feeling was even more pronounced in the great C Minor Sonata Adagio movement.) The final Rondo: Allegretto is perfectly judged.

By now having a feel for Hewitt’s approach, I decided to listen to Hewitt’s Sonata in B-flat, K. 570, then immediately turn to William Kapell’s live performance of the same sonata from 1953. Late in his brief life, Kapell worked on the Viennese classics with Artur Schnabel and began regularly programming Mozart and Schubert as an integral part of his programs. I remembered his approach to the music as being a polar opposite to Hewitt’s, and I was not mistaken. The American is much less concerned with tiny moment-to-moment details but instead focuses on long lines and flow. His voicing is less subtle and varied than Hewitt’s, but when Kapell suddenly highlights a bass or soprano voice, one is struck by how much the music owes to Mozart’s opera buffa style. This is what Hewitt misses with her approach: a sense of humor. Without a feeling that the pianist is cracking a smile while she plays, the music often cannot succeed.

I don’t understand why anyone wants to record the “Twinkle” variations at this point, but at least Hewitt invests the set with some dignity. The D Major Rondo, often dismissed as a “student piece,” is played like a mini tone poem, given all the care and attention lavished on the Sonatas, and the result is impressive. Hewitt’s parsing of the bizarre little Gigue brings to mind her work in Bach; the pianist’s outstanding control of the nattering individual voices comes to the fore here. The Adagio is choppy and overinterpreted, and the great Rondo in A Minor never achieves liftoff.

Richard Masters

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Contents
Fantasia in C Minor, K. 475
Sonata in C Minor, K. 457
Sonata in F Major, K. 533/494
Sonata in C Major, “Facile,” K. 545
Rondo in D Major, K. 485
Gigue in G Major, “Eine Kleine Gigue,” K. 574
Variations on “Ah vous dirai-je, maman,” K. 265
Sonata in B-flat Major, K. 570
Sonata in D Major, “The Hunt,” K. 576
Adagio in B Minor, K. 540
Rondo in A Minor, K. 511