An interview with

Angela Hewitt

Why did you want to re-record the Six Partitas?

I played them a lot in 2017 as part of my Bach Odyssey and I realised I had come a long way in the 20 years since I first recorded them. Not just me, but also technology has come a long way. I thought it would be nice to have a record of how they had changed in that time – 20 years of playing Bach, of adding more colour, more flexibility, perhaps more rhythmic variety and then just more depth of expression. That’s what comes with 20 more years of life.

How has playing a Fazioli piano changed your performance? Since I started playing Fazioli pianos my growth as a pianist has changed, because the instrument gives me so many possibilities and a lot more flexibility in the sound. There are an infinite variety of sounds that you can get out of it. I recorded on my own Fazioli – it came up from my house in Umbria.

It’s a piano I know intimately and I don’t have to worry about anything, like if trills are going to work or if notes are going to sound when I play them extremely softly. It’s a joy.

Does Bach still challenge you? Of course, yes. I have the final two programmes in my Bach Odyssey to get through – the last one being The Art of Fugue, which I don’t really remember a note of, but I’ll relearn it all!

It’s always a challenge; you can never get up and play Bach on automatic pilot – you have to be constantly engaged, thinking about what you’re doing, aware of the parts, aware of everything. He is demanding, but what he gives back to you is worth every minute of toil.