Angela Hewitt sharing spirituality, humility and generosity with the people of Haslemere helping to create funds for the Meath Epilepsy Charity .
One of the first places that Angela had visited as a teenager was to the Dolmetsch family in Haslemere having been an avid recorder player in her childhood
Today she returns as a star shining brightly , constantly illuminating the lives of so many people on many continents .She has infact been described as the busiest pianist on earth !
But never too busy to help people in need as today, donating her services to raise funds for a noble charity. She came with a big case ready to fly off to Japan tomorrow but not before one of the most spiritual and masterly performances of the Goldberg Variations that I have ever heard and she still found time to enjoy the company of a community dedicated to helping those in need .
Stephen Dennison the tireless organiser of HHH concerts in Haslemere writes : ‘Angela Hewitt’s performance was very very special.
The long silence at the end marvellous.
Well done to the Haslemere audience. Not one cough in the whole 82 minutes.
I will catch up with Meath next week to check how much the concert raised.’
In fact it was Prince Donatus von Hohenzollern who turned to me at the end , after an interminable silence , and murmured obviously very moved, that Angela’s performance had been for him such a spiritual journey.
Not only for him as the minutes of absolute silence after the whispered return of the Aria created an atmosphere where people are united in one of those magic moments that only live music making can reserve.
The generosity of Angela to agree to play for Charity was repaid by the shadow of Bach looking on in a performance that even for Angela, who has been playing these variations for fifty years, was something very special. Eighty two minutes and thirty variations on, where Angela had played all the repeats with an invention and fantasy that recreated the greatest variations ever written.
From the opening Aria played with simplicity and beauty opening to the rhythmic drive of the first variation played with buoyancy and clarity. Riding on a great wave that was to take us on a journey together of exhilaration, poignancy and even tragedy until the joyous outburst of the quodlibet after the final variation n. 29 had resounded round this beautiful church with such nobility and glorious sonority.The whispered return of the Aria ,where Angela’s fingers barely touched the keys, was of quite extraordinary potency that one dared not breath for fear of breaking the spell she or rather Bach had created.
Angela was the medium between Bach and the listeners, never interfering, but illuminating with extrordinary fantasy as in the unforgettable seventh variation where she played the repeat at a different register.They were notes that Bach would not have had on the pianos of his day but would have had on the different register of the organ or harpsichord.To hear the question and answer of the voices was a stroke of genius as was the whispered insinuating twenty second variation.This is where suddenly a ray of light can be seen on the horizon as we become ever nearer to the core of a work which explodes with searing intensity in the twenty fifth variation.
Angela had pointed the way at the end of the fifteenth variation that was suspended in mid air with such daring timing.The French overture of the sixteenth ( the half way mark) breaking the spell with nobility and refined aristocratic timelessness. Angela has a technical mastery that was so complete that it passed unnoticed such was the overall musical line and architectural shape, where the extraordinary technical difficulties were just not a consideration. Swept away on a wave of musical genius played with an unassuming mastery that allowed the music to speak for itself.
I have heard Angela play many times before but tonight for us all there was something very special in the atmosphere that will long be remembered by all those present. As another great lady pianist Mitsuko Uchida once said that a memory is much more important than a recording because it becomes ever more beautiful as time passes,where a printed copy with time fades and turns brown at the edges.
Thanks must go to Stephen Dennison who has dedicated a year of his life to bring a dream to reality ……….and ‘If music be the food of love play on …………..perchance to dream ‘.
Angela was whisked away on a magic carpet to share her love and devotion for Bach worldwide and uniting peoples from many different continents allowing them to share something so beautiful that words could never describe a land where peace and goodwill to all men is still a possibility .
Angela’s energy and enthusiasm are only equalled by her mastery and generosity. Her festival in Umbria in Italy where she lives is now in it’s 20th year.
ChristopherAxworthy-MusicCommentary 