Classic Melbourne is delighted that legendary pianist Angela Hewitt agreed to respond to a few questions prior to her Australian tour. Her legions of Australian fans are just as delighted that we are about to hear her in person.
Your selection of works for your recital at the Melbourne Recital Centre shows a great deal of thought and includes works of composers that are central to your performing and recording career. How do you go about constructing a program, especially this one?
It’s a programme that was chosen for many different places: London’s Wigmore Hall, the Musikverein in Vienna, for recitals in Milan, California, New York City, and Australia—among others. Though I just played in the last week in England a totally different programme of Scarlatti, Bach and the huge F minor Sonata by Brahms. Two big programmes at once is a lot! But yes, this is music I love and which is relevant to my projects at the moment. I just finished recording the complete Piano Sonatas of Mozart (the third double-CD album will be released in April 2025), and these important works in C minor (Fantasia and Sonata) are included in that. The Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue by Bach is one of his masterpieces, and a work that has been in my repertoire for over half a century. It never fails to excite audiences! The Brahms Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel is a terrific piece to end with, and one which I will be recording next year. I thought to precede it with the very grand Chaconne in G major by Handel—a perfect prelude to the Brahms.
As a famous exponent of Bach’s keyboard music, what drew you to it and keeps his music central to your career? What keeps your love affair with Bach’s music fresh?
I grew up on Bach. My father was the cathedral organist in Ottawa, Canada, and so I heard it from the time I was born—and played wonderfully by him. It is not just the beauty of the music, of the themes, but also the terrific rhythm, the harmonies, the great logic. But perhaps more than anything else, it’s his use of dance rhythms to express joy which, for me, keeps his music forever fresh and relevant and full of heart.
You have an extremely busy schedule. How do you unwind after a concert and relax when you have longer breaks? You live in London but do you also go back to Canada when you have time?
I go to my home in Italy on Lake Trasimeno. I have a week-long festival there in the summer (our 20th anniversary will be next year from June 26-July 2). That’s a lot to organize, so I hardly get any free time. But I see my friends and look after my house. I’m always on the go, either practicing or doing admin or day-to-day errands. I never take long holidays. After a concert I don’t eat big meals anymore, unless it’s an afternoon recital. But I talk with my audience always in the foyer of the hall, and that’s nice. It’s important for me to speak with them.
You are renowned for having a prodigious memory; would you contemplate using a score for a work – even an iPad?
I memorized the complete keyboard works of Bach, all 32 Beethoven Sonatas, all 18 Mozart Sonatas, now all the Mozart Concertos—and that’s only for starters. I still work very hard at memory—and it’s more difficult with age. But I force myself to do it. I use the iPad for certain things, yes. But I never give up memorizing. It’s a shame young musicians rely a bit too much on it now, because memory is a muscle that needs constant use and those pieces you learn well before the age of 23 you always remember.
Your reputation is one that you care for the next generation when on tour in addition to giving recitals and performing concertos. In your opinion what are the benefits and drawbacks of competitions and master classes?
Competitions are useful if you really want to make a career and you win a big one. It gives you opportunities that you might not ever get otherwise. Now it’s very “public” with the internet showing everything. That wasn’t the case in my day (I did about 25 international piano competitions between the age of 16 and 26). They are also useful for learning a large amount of repertoire and for listening to other young pianists. That’s important. I did a lot of that. No matter what the final result was, I wanted to know where I thought I stood. In my day there weren’t so many masterclasses. I did a few summer courses, but not this getting up and playing one piece for some teacher that was only in for a few hours. But I hope I give encouragement and useful advice to all the young pianists that I hear. The best is when I do my masterclass in Umbria, Italy for a week in the summer (not every year). I take ten very advanced students and work with them on a ton of repertoire. They have to sit in on the other lessons as well, or at least a good portion of them. We eat together and have a lot of fun. The students often write me afterwards to say it was the best week of their lives (so far!). That’s satisfying.
What gives you hope for the future of classical music?
Well if people give it up completely the world will be a sad place. I still get excellent audiences, and I think a lot is up to the performer to cultivate that and work at it. You can’t expect it just to happen. I have always done a lot of audience-building myself, keeping in touch with people, building up my fan base. And there are a ton of gifted young musicians out there, so that’s no problem. We just need people to get up off the sofa and actually go to a live concert. It’s a completely different experience than listening to music on your cellphone.
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Photo credit: Lorenzo Dogana
Angela Hewitt will perform the works listed below at the Melbourne Recital Centre on Saturday, October 12, 2024 at 7pm.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Fantasie for Piano in C minor, K475
Sonata for Piano No.14 in C minor, K457
Johann Sebastian Bach
Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in D minor, BWV 903
George Frideric Handel
Chaconne in G, HWV.435
Johannes Brahms
Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel, Op.24
