Imogen Cooper CBE returns to Australia
One of the greatest pianists of her generation, Imogen Cooper CBE is coming to Australia in August to embark on a special nine-concert tour of Australia – her first national solo recital tour in Australia, and her first tour for Musica Viva.
Ms Cooper will be touring from Monday 18 August to Thursday 4 September, commencing in Sydney, and touring to Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Canberra, Perth & Newcastle. Recognised worldwide as a pianist of virtuosity and poetic poise, Imogen Cooper CBE has established a reputation as one of the finest interpreters of the classical repertoire. And the same words keep appearing from critics around the globe in praise of her mastery of the piano: humane, poetic, beautiful, restrained, insightful.
Most of the music on the tour program will focus on the extraordinary musical and emotional kinship between Clara and Robert Schumann and their friend and protégé Johannes Brahms. In particular, Cooper will focus on Clara, another ground-breaking female pianist.
“The program will include Brahms’ Theme and Variations from the String Sextet, op 18, of which Brahms did an arrangement for Clara Schumann, because she loved it so much,” says Ms Cooper. Because Cooper also adored the string sextet version, she says she felt in two minds about performing the piece. But, she explains, “it is so beautiful that I really couldn’t resist it.”
Adding in a few improvements, Cooper will present her own version, as she says, “Strangely enough, Brahms simplified one or two things, or rather, he took out some, to me, absolutely salient harmonies or spacing chords. I can’t believe it was to protect Clara in any way, because she was a fabulous pianist. Maybe he just did it in a hurry. Anyway, I put them back; I hope he doesn’t mind. I think my version sounds better, if I may say so.”
Also on Cooper’s Australian program is Robert Schumann’s Davidsbündlertänze op 6 – a set of 18 pieces in which two alter egos, Florestan and Eusebius, respectively the extrovert and the introvert, are represented in turn. Then there is Schubert’s final piano sonata, which Cooper says “stands out for its sheer lyricism.” She continues, “There’s very little dark in it, if you consider how much dark, actually, there is in all his works. I don’t think he could have known that he was going to die.”
About the nine-concert tour of Australia Ms Cooper says, “I’m very excited. The older I get, the more I want to try new experiences that I haven’t done before.” She continues, “Ten years ago, the thought of doing a nine-recital tour of Australia – I would have said no, not for me. But strangely enough, I think I can do it now. And I’m curious to know what I’m going to learn through it – about the works, about myself, about the profession. I’m curious and very much looking forward to it.”
WHO:Musica Viva Presents Imogen Cooper
WHEN Sydney concerts will be held on Monday the 17th of August at 7pm and Saturday August 23rd at 2pm.
WHERE: City Recital Hall
For more information and to book tickets, click here!
