This unusually ordered concert program by
Imogen Cooper (most pianists would have started with
Mozart, followed that with
Ravel, and ended with
Beethoven) shows her to be a fine player with a big tone, a nuanced touch, and a firm command of the music. She's arguably at her best in
Mozart, where her clear, controlled approach works wonderfully well. She's less suited to
Beethoven, where she sometimes seems not quite able to wrap her mind around the strangeness of his transitions or the weirdness of his forms. And she's oddly much better at
Debussy, where the music fairly glows in her hands, than at
Ravel, where the music occasionally sits uneasily under her fingers. As a concert, this would have been more than enjoyable, and in this CD issue, it may still give pleasure after repeated listening.
BBC Radio 3's sound is distant and a bit dull.