Schubert: 4 Impromptus, D935 (Op. post. 142)

“outstanding performances...He is dazzling in the brilliant passages (wonderful F minor and B flat impromptus). Even more important, he finds a beautiful glow for those quintessential Schubert moments of deep, sad stillness.” Sunday Times, 7th October 2012

“His playing of everything here is exemplary; if one were ever tempted to say a recording was 'definitive' then this is the time...Playing such as Lewis's expands and extends my ideas about what Schubert could do...Lewis shows, more than perhaps any pianist I have heard, how much latent violence there is in almost all Schubert's writing for the piano...I'd be surprised if any Schubert lover didn't find these two discs a revelation.” BBC Music Magazine, Christmas 2012 *****

“whether in a Moment musical or the mighty Wanderer, Lewis's vision is persuasive. Above all, it's playing that possesses a profound confidence that has surely come from his wholesale immersion in the music of the composer, not just the solo piano works but chamber and vocal too...A worthy continuation, then, of what is fast emerging as a benchmark Schubert series for our time.” Gramophone Magazine, December 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 gets to the heart of the matter in this glorious recording. The balance of charm, intensity and intellectual rigour is nigh-on ideal.” BBC Music Magazine, Christmas 2012 *****