Having recently devoted a ‘Collection’ (3/04) to Frescobaldi’s keyboard output, it is gratifying to know that its potential to inspire new insights (and excellent performances) is undiminished. 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.

Another reason to praise this recital is its mix of (relatively) well-known and less familiar repertory; in the latter category is the Capriccio cromatico col ligature al contrario. Its delightfully perverse premise of resolving suspensions upwards is difficult to bring off, but Häkkinen does so sensitively; and while few people have a good word to say for the Capriccio alla battaglia, he convinces you that it’s worth a hearing, at the very least. Add to this the involving, dark-hued timbre of his instrument, and the result is a disc not to be missed, marking Häkkinen as a Frescobaldian of real distinction.

-- Fabrice Fitch, Gramophone [12/2004}