Cooper's Schubert is enjoyable and musical
Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 12/10/2009
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Having read the Gramophone's rave over this installment in Imogen Cooper's Schubert series, I guess the road diverges here. I find her thoroughly enjoyable. As an accompanist, the role she served with the baritone Wolfgang Holzmair on Philips, she is ideal. But Cooper lacks a strong individual voice. She's better than pleasant; one hears a trained professional at work. The problem is that Schubert's piano music has risen in stature decade by decade. No longer neglected as it was when Artur Schnabel made his historic recordings in the Thirties, a masterpiece like the posthumous sonata in A Major D. 959 has been interpreted by such masters as Serkin, Richter, and Pollini.
Cooper cannot compete at that level, so it was wise of her to offer a more intimate experience. The two earlier sonatas featured here, the one in A minor D. 845, and the one in D major, D. 850, aren't exactly small scale, but they are more suited to Cooper's range. She's not original, dynamic, or highly imaginative. These two sonatas could use all those qualities, of course, but they also prosper with the gifts Cooper is able to bring. She competes respectably with the more intimate Schubert style of Radu Lupu and Andras Schiff. Over the course of two CDs, I became weary of so much lulling playing, but on her own terms Cooper is very commendable. Just don't expect heroics or fireworks a la Richter."