By Lyn Bronson
The last time I heard Angela Hewitt was ten years ago when she was the featured soloist at a music teachers convention at the Hyatt Hotel in Monterey. At that time the cards were seemingly stacked against her — the Steinway concert grand sounded muffled and the concert was in an acoustically dead ballroom on a carpeted stage. But the straw that broke the camel’s back was the constant intrusive whir of the air conditioning that threatened to obscure her every nuance.
Well, this time all the conditions were superb and I heard an entirely different Angela Hewitt. Appearing in the San Jose State University Concert Hall as the featured artist for the Young Pianists’ Beethoven Competition, she was appearing in a solo recital on Friday evening and giving a master class the following day to selected participants of the Young Pianists Beethoven Competition.
In addition to the fine acoustics of the SJSU Concert Hall acoustics, the added bonus was a lovely Fazioli 7′6″ grand piano that sounded sensational — clear as a bell in every register with power to spare, plus the ability to produce a broad range of dynamics from the softest pianissimo to the grandest fortissimo.
