Spellbinding performance by Canadian pianist

Angela Hewitt, St David’s Hall, Cardiff

IT was as though time stood still. We were held spellbound in a kind of emotional stasis as Canadian pianist Angela Hewitt took us up the musical Everest that is Bach’s Goldberg Variations, reaching the summit with a feeling of immense satisfaction.

The Goldberg Variations – a set of 30 contrapuntal variations beginning and ending with an aria – are imbued with so much spiritual significance that the listener can easily become lost and overwhelmed.

The technical structure of the work certainly challenges the “ordinary” listener. The 30 variations are made up of 10 groups of three. Ten variations are based on hand-crossing (demonstrated with breathtaking skill by Hewitt in this performance), 10 are based on dance or genre pieces, and 10 canons.

It takes a pianist of Angela Hewitt’s insight and energy to understand and unravel the complexity of the work and guide us to at least a partial appreciation of its metaphysical mysteries.

Hewitt’s approach in this performance was to highlight what she sees as the joyous tone of much of the music, and this was the case in variations 10, 12 and 15 where her virtuosity and technique were astounding. But it was at the emotional heart of the work that her lightness of touch and limpid pianism were at their most moving and impressive.

This was evident at various stages during the 80 minutes that Hewitt sat playing in the spotlight, but particularly in variation 25, which has been described as the “black pearl” of the work.

This variation comes towards the end of what is essentially a contemplation of what it is to be human. It is as troubling as it is beautiful, something that Hewitt captured perfectly before she embarked on the remaining variations.

The journey ended where it had begun, with the aria, although what had happened in between had changed our appreciation of its elusive beauty. There was almost perfect silence for some time after the final note faded away, followed by a well deserved standing ovation.

■ Peter Collins