Gramophone Magazine
October 2021
Editor's Choice

Imogen Cooper (piano)

Ravel: Valses nobles et sentimentales
Ravel: Sonatine
Liszt: Les jeux d'eaux à la Villa d'Este (Années de pèlerinage III, S. 163 No. 4)
Ravel: Jeux d'eau
Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody, S244 No. 13 in A minor
Fauré: Thème & Variations, Op. 73
Liszt: Reminiscences de Lucia di Lammermoor, S397
Respighi: Notturno

Borrowing from the title of Proust’s great novel, the latest recital by Imogen Cooper features a collection of pieces that she learnt as a teenager in Paris, or in her twenties working with Alfred Brendel in Vienna, but none of which she has performed on the concert platform, or really played at all in the intervening years. Cooper studied in Paris from 1961 to 1967 with Jacques Février (who had known Ravel well), Yvonne Lefébure (who had known Alfred Cortot), and Germaine Mounier. She started to wonder about the messages from her teachers she would find on her scores, and about the nature of memory. She was also interested to see if the repertoire she has acquired since she learnt these pieces would change her view, or shed new light on them. This highly personal recital is an exemplar of Imogen Cooper’s outstanding pianism and musicianship.

"It’s rare to come across music-making so unguardedly personal. Add piano-playing at once cultivated and supremely natural, all of it delivered from an open mind and heart, and the combination is something you won’t want to miss." - Gramophone Magazine, October 2021.