Zhu Xiao Mei

This recording was realized by Accentus Music in partnership with the Académie France-Chine. The academy was launched in 2018 by the outstanding pianist Zhu Xiao-Mei with the support of Cartier. The purpose of the academy is to promote music education and training, to encourage the emergence of highly talented young artists and to foster cultural exchange between Europe and China.

This recording was realized by Accentus Music in partnership with the Académie France-Chine. The academy was launched in 2018 by the outstanding pianist Zhu Xiao-Mei with the support of Cartier. The purpose of the academy is to promote music education and training, to encourage the emergence of highly talented young artists and to foster cultural exchange between Europe and China.

This recording was realized by Accentus Music in partnership with the Académie France-Chine. The academy was launched in 2018 by the outstanding pianist Zhu Xiao-Mei with the support of Cartier. The purpose of the academy is to promote music education and training, to encourage the emergence of highly talented young artists and to foster cultural exchange between Europe and China.

Even though Angela Hewitt's repertoire is quite extensive and diverse, encompassing the Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and modern eras, her true specialty is the music of J.S. Bach, which she has recorded almost exclusively for Hyperion since the 1980s. With this recording of The Art of Fugue, Hewitt completes her long-running series of piano renditions of the solo keyboard works, and while not everyone is convinced that Bach composed this study of fugal techniques for the keyboard, Hewitt's performance is credible and satisfying. She controls the often unwieldy counterpoint by regarding the lines as if they were vocal parts, and her phrases are shaped by natural breathing points, as well as the different emotional qualities she brings to each fugue and canon. The Art of Fugue can be daunting for both performer and listener because its persistent tonality of D minor and monothematic material can be quite tedious in the wrong hands.