Aapo Hakkinen - Frescobaldi: Harpsichord Works (CD)

Release Date: 01/01/04

Aapo Häkkinen has a knack of articulating imitative points in a sinewy manner, and a rhythmic subtlety that allows minut

Aapo Häkkinen has a knack of articulating imitative points in a sinewy manner, and a rhythmic subtlety that allows minute distinctions to tell expressively. One of the test-pieces for this quality (and many other traits of the true Frescobaldian) is the Cento partite. Here it is spread over two tracks, of which the second (which begins at the rubric Passacagli altro tono) acts as a long coda to the first. Where the music supports it, Häkkinen plays with a panache reminiscent of Pierre Hantaï, and has a similar capacity for eccentricity, now drawing out one passage, now rattling off another, but without sacrificing the tight structure underlying even Frescobaldi’s most fantastic inventions. This is playing of a high order. – Fabrice Fitch / Gramophone