Schubert: Piano Sonata No. 18 in G major, D894

“As Lewis's legions of admirers would expect, they are all superbly well played, with the same clarity and careful attention to every detail that is also lavished on the Four Impromptus of D899 and the three very late piano pieces D946. Unlike some of Lewis's more recent Beethoven performances, there's nothing over emphatic here... It's a fine, thoughtful set.” The Guardian, 3rd November 2011 ****

“Lewis’s mature insight into the workings and emotional characteristics of these works lends his interpretations particular power and depth, not just in the sonatas but also in the impromptus and the late Klavierstücke as well. Considered thought always seems to support and nourish Lewis’s performances, and here his instincts animate the music absorbingly.” The Telegraph, 18th November 2011

“Lewis’s Beethoven sonatas placed him firmly in the company of great contemporary pianists. In Schubert, too, his graceful phrasing and command of dynamic contrasts are equally impressive. His magisterial account of the C major Sonata (D840) challenges all other recorded interpretations with its combination of head and heart.” Sunday Telegraph, 20th November 2011

“I enjoyed every moment of these two superbly recorded discs...These are model accounts, in which Lewis, clearly a modest man, is intent on keeping himself out of the picture...I would like to hear more of him, and I'm sure Schubert would feel the same...When Schubert is being mysterious yet somehow simple, as in the unfinished so-called 'Reliquie' Sonata, Lewis's reticence is ideal. If he is open to criticism at all, it is only at the most exalted level.” BBC Music Magazine, January 2012 ****

“every now and again a recording comes along that makes you want to dance in the street, handing out copies to complete strangers. This is one of those instances...Time and again, you marvel at the confidence and sureness of Lewis's playing, combined with the finesse and musicality that he has always displayed. It's the kind of playing, in fact, where comparisons cease to matter....An undoubted contender for the 2012 Awards.” Gramophone Magazine, February 2012

“Particularly admirable is Lewis's differentiation between Schubert's idiosyncratic indications...[in D850] his playing seems to exude a quiet jauntiness, an unencumbered masculinity, observant, appreciative and filled with pleasure that, in its guileless utterance, is heart-stoppingly beautiful...I don't know of a more convincing or enjoyable performance [of D946]” International Record Review, February 2012

“Every note amply justifies Cooper’s Schubertian credentials. She maintains perfect balance between intellect and emotion, tuning into what the Germans call Sehnsucht — a kind of longing — and subtly delineating shades of light and dark...Outstanding.” Sunday Times, 22nd November 2009 ****

“These two CDs contain some of the most wonderful Schubert-playing I have ever heard. …one thing Cooper can do is make the piano sing… Colours are gracefully shaded, dynamics are artfully controlled and contained; there are no intrusive idiosyncrasies... to detract from the enchantment. ...there is throughout a serenity and poise to the playing which is pure balm for the soul. Here is a great artist of taste and integrity.” Gramophone Magazine, January 2010

“…Imogen Cooper is second to none in Schubert. The sound she so carefully makes is a glorious companion throughout, casting radiance on the first two Moments musicaux, the spellbinding last of the four impromptus, and even a rare moment of transcendence in the otherwise straightforward if well sprung German Dances. ...she finds her own independent way with the opening of the C minor Sonata, strong and surprisingly buoyant with lovely staccatos and later magical enharmonic transformations. The tour de force of the final tarantella, following on the heels of the elusive minuet, never palls in its mercurial variety, and the slip into B major is a glimpse into a strange new world, a little touch of heaven.” BBC Music Magazine, February 2010 *****

“the piano could not be more naturally captured, nor the feeling of live music-making conveyed to the listener. She displays a very special feeling for the composer's lyricism, and the warm colouring and fine shading of timbre are as pleasing to the ear as the many subtle nuances of phrasing, and her bold sonority at higher dynamic levels is particularly satisfying.” Penguin Guide, 2011 edition

“Staier reveals no shortage of finely-judged colours in the finale's central episode… playing its lyrical major-mode passages with admirable lightness of touch, and its C minor outbursts with all the forcefulness and drama they need.” BBC Music Magazine, June 2009 ***

“More than 20 years after Melvyn Tan's revolutionary EMI recording, fortepianist Andreas Staier's performance has a confidence and clarity that make the modern grand piano sound clumsy...Staier's tempi are well judged, his cadences beautifully sculpted.” The Independent on Sunday, 10th May 2009

“The clarity and brilliance of the scale passages in the fourth Impromptu and in variation five of the third are simply dazzling. Exquisite, too, in the sonata is the sudden hushed chord of B minor in the 10th bar and the trancelike beauty of the minuet’s B major trio. Equally striking is the power of the instrument’s fortissimos.” Sunday Times, 5th July 2009 ****

“It's evident throughout that Staier has the full measure of this quietly remarkable work… The Impromptus are equally persuasive, matching Uchida in the sense of journeying within each work, matching Lupu in beauty of sound in the poignancy of No 2, and finding an even more unbridled approach to the Hungarian inflections of No 4. Regardless of your attitude to fortepianos, if you love this music, you'll want this interpretation. Staier is unquestionably one of the most probing and thoughtful musicians around today.” Gramophone Magazine, September 2009

“Brendel believes Schubert is 'mysteriously episodic', but doesn’t play him that way. Architecture is re-created by scanning ahead… and by binding movements together through tempi that relate to one another. Weaknesses fall by the wayside. Not, though, the melancholic songfulness that is an indisputable part of Schubert. It is heard in, say, the B major Trio or the slow movement of D960, but shorn of the lachrymose bleating that some pianists think necessary.” Gramophone Magazine, March 2006