There is always plenty to admire in Angela Hewitt's piano playing - clarity, control and intelligence perhaps most of all - and a strong contingent of the Wigmore Hall audience clearly felt there was nothing missing from this particular recital. Yet even as she rounded off her encores by bringing a lovely, understated touch to Schumann's Traumerei, Hewitt left us feeling that she hadn't quite plumbed the nethermost emotional depths this time.
Admittedly, her slightly dry programme in the first half was unlikely to have taken us there. Still, her delivery of the opening work - the 13ème Ordre from Couperin's third book of keyboard pieces - was enough to make us glad that the authenticity police have not yet declared it a crime to perform this composer's music on the piano rather than the harpsichord. Hewitt's light, seamless playing brought out its richness where other pianists, bogged down in the relentless ornamentation of Couperin's style, might have made it sound cumbersome. The final movement, a sombre lament almost reminiscent of Purcell, provided some of the recital's most heartfelt moments.
Couperin shared the first half with Mendelssohn, whose two Preludes and Fugues in E and F minor were a reminder that the composer who rekindled interest in Bach's music could spin a mean fugue himself. There was much thunder here, yet some of the loudest stretches sounded harsh.
The second half proved more interesting. Hewitt brought a haunting touch to the sixth of Fauré's Op 73 Variations in C sharp minor, her hands at either extreme of the keyboard; each successive variation on the almost grumbly theme was more intriguing.
After so many fugues and variations, it was a relief to encounter a work as free in its inspiration as Schumann's Humoreske. Between its wistful first movement and its slowly flowing close, the piece found Hewitt showing a quirkier, more playful side that bordered on the exhilarating. Perhaps, though, Hewitt is too reliably in control to get us right to the edges of our seats.
· Repeated tonight. Box office: 020-7935 2141.
