Search - Ludwig van Beethoven, Claude Debussy, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart :: Imogen Cooper Plays Beethoven, Mozart, Ravel

BEAUTIFUL! Damn the engineers.

G. Stewart | Chesapeake, VA USA | 06/11/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Despite the very soft sound of every piece, you can still hear Imogen Cooper's amazing ability to own each piece. This is, as the label would indicate, a live recording. That fact is impressive; she performs each piece masterfully in a live setting. That fact, because of the mixing engineers, is also the biggest downfall of the album; every piece is so soft that you really have to turn the volume WAY UP in order to truly appreciate the piece (I mean MAX out the volume). That is really the only downfall of this lovely performance.



Imogen Cooper is, as you will note from her discography, most comfortable when performing Mozart. She does so here with an adroitness that is pleasing and expressive; you can feel her passion passing from her fingers to the piano.



She plays Beethoven well, though not as well as she does Mozart, but I cannot take much away from her here. The performance of Beethoven's Sonata is lovely. She handles the one piece by Debussy with a perfect touch and it makes me wonder why she doesn't record more Debussy; she plays it perfectly. What a shame that it is only one piece by Debussy; they don't even mention his piece on the cover. The Ravel pieces, Miroirs are performed well enough, but I think that Ravel is where she probably struggles the most, but again I would not take anything away as she still affectionately performs the entire cycle.



Basically, as far as performance goes, this is a 5 star effort. I give it 4 stars for the very bad recording; the microphone seems to be placed very far from the piano. There is no background noise, but the sound is very soft, distant.



All in all, I still recommend this as a good addition to a classical collection, but, considering the different styles of the composers played here, you can probably find a better compiliation of Beethoven & Mozart seperate from Ravel & Debussy; it is an odd combination of classical musical styles. Again, however, it is an excellent performance with low, muffled sound."

Another Wonderful Wigmore Recital

R. Robbins | 02/13/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Wigmore Recital series has already brought us some of the finest live concert music of recent years and Imogen Cooper's current recital builds on her prior release of Mozart's Piano Concertos Nos.9 (K271 and 23 (K488) with the Northern Sinfonia on the Avie label.



Her exquisite playing, espesially in K271 (Jeunehomme) on the Avie release shows up here in the Mozart Sonata in A minor K310 - obviously Mozart (and of course Schubert) run deeply in her blood - but the Beeethoven and especially the Ravel are a revelation.



Most of my past experience with Ms. Cooper has been in the context of her in the chamber muisc setting. More solo work please!.



A recommendation to all is her fine album on Phillips "Mozart, Schubert, Brahms, Rachmaninov, Schumann, Wolf" Imogen Cooper & Friends

Works by Mozart, Schubert, Brahms, Rachmaninov, Schumann, Wolf.

"

A skilled, tasteful pianist who doesn't offer much excitemen

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 09/19/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Imogen Cooper has steadily built a reputation, mostly in England, for tasteful, well-proportioned performances, but I haven't really followed her. (She paired successfully with baritone Wolgang Holzmaier on a series of lieder recordings for Philips some years back.) This ambitous Wigmore Hall recital piqued my interest. It doesn't begin very promisingly, though. The Beethoven Op. 101 sonata demands greater depth than Cooper reveals, and she prettifies the music. Her touch is lovely, and there's good taste at work, but the sonata as a whole expresses little of its revolutionary power.



Mozart's A minor sonata K. 310, one of his most familiar, finds her on firmer ground. Here she avoids prettifying and luanches the work with directness and a firm control of the melodic line. Her style doesn't seem much varied form the gentler parts of the Beethoven, but it suits this music much better. However, great Mozart playing requires a degree of fantasy and playfulness that I don't hear, good as Cooper is.



We move into yet another world of piano technique in Ravel's scintillating Miroirs. I am by no means a specialist, or a great lover of Ravel's piano music. Cooper plays with less color and finesse than, say Thibaudet or (to scale the heights) Gieseking, but she sounds secure -- with less to compare it to, I enjoyed this section of her recital very much. The concert ends with a direct, rather than atmospheric, performance of a Debbusy Prelude "Les terrasse des audiences du clair de lune."



In all, my enthusiasm is respectful rather than emotional. I see why Imogen Cooper has many fans in England, but I take The Gramophone's raves, as usual when they are confronted by British artists, with a grain of salt."