NEW YORK—Angela Hewitt’s Bach is filled with the colors and joy of life.
Evidenced by the long line of people waiting to enter the Kaufmann Concert Hall at 92Y, the young child loudly claiming the middle seat of a row so he could be sure to see the pianist’s fingers, the elderly gentleman moved to tears, the thunderous applause and standing ovations, Bach still speaks to our humanity today.
Hewitt on Oct. 27 played the first recital of her “Bach Odyssey,” a series of 12 recitals in which she will play all of J.S. Bach’s major keyboard works over four years. She performed the second recital at 92Y on Oct. 30, and the third will be in April. The entire cycle will be performed at the venue, and multiple concertgoers professed on the first day that they would attend all 12 recitals.
“Bach has shaped not only my career, but more importantly my musical personality, musical intelligence. I mean, he’s the basis for all the music that came after him,” Hewitt said in an earlier interview. She has been playing Bach since the age of 3, has performed and recorded all of these keyboard works, and still finds more in the music every time. It has been, and continues to be, a deeply emotional journey for Hewitt.
Hanna Arie-Gaifman, director of the 92Y Tisch Center for the Arts, thought this journey and exploration of a composer was exactly what she wanted to share with concert hall audiences.
“It’s music which is alive—it speaks to us,” said Arie-Gaifman. It was almost exactly a year ago that she and Hewitt discussed Hewitt’s future with Bach, after she had played “The Art of Fugue” at the venue. When she heard about Hewitt’s “Odyssey,” she said they must bring it to 92Y.
