Article: Canadian pianist Angela Hewitt plays Bach's music her own way.

Byline: Timothy Mangan

A page of music by Johann Sebastian Bach is something of a blank slate for the performer _ or a cipher, perhaps. Like other composers of his era, Bach (1685-1750) left much more up to the discretion and creativity of the performer than do his modern counterparts.

Bach supplied the raw material for a performance _ the notes on the page, the rhythms _ but little else. Tempos, phrasing, articulation, dynamics and expression were largely the province of the performer. Bach even allowed plenty of room for improvisation. It's as if his music, as he wrote it, was a basic recipe for a performance: "Here are the main ingredients," he says, ...

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