Composers: Beethoven
Compositions: Piano Sonatas Nos. 22, 21, 10 and 1​
Performers: Angela Hewitt p
Catalogue Number:​ Hyperion CDA68220​

Angela Hewitt opens this random and, to me, curiously assembled, collection with Beethoven’s First Sonata with what can only be described as a “Mannheim Rocket” – a spectacular upward thrust beloved by the Mannheim School of composers to display the virtuosic prowess of their eponymous ensemble. She makes it reminiscent of the last movement of Mozart’s penultimate symphony. The first movement sounds comparatively business-like.

In the Op 14 No 2 Hewitt’s second movement theme...