Brian Wilson
MusicWeb International
January 2015

Angela Hewitt appears on two of these albums. On the first, the second instalment of her Beethoven series, recorded in 2006, she plays Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) Piano Sonatas No 15 in D, Op 28 (‘Pastoral’) [24:55], No 8 in c minor, Op 13 ('Pathétique') [21:36] and Op 2/3 in C [27:45].

Colin Clarke had mixed reactions to this recording, feeling that Hewitt didn’t project the greatness of these seminal works—review. I liked her performance of the Pastoral, which opens proceedings, and Op 2/3 which concludes matters, but I thought her Pathétique a little underwhelming. Though I should point out that Classic FM magazine made this a Disc of the Month, it isn’t the best of Hewitt’s several recordings of Beethoven for Hyperion: there are four volumes of Piano Sonatas (the others are CDA67518, 67797 and 67974) and two volumes of Cello Sonatas with Daniel Müller-Schott (CDA67633—one of my Hyperion Top 30—and 67755)