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CD of the week: Schubert Live
This week's pick is a collection of Schubert's music, recorded by one of Britain's greatest pianists.
Schubert Live was recorded live in concert at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall , and this double-CD is the first of three volumes which will see Imogen uncovering relatively unknown gems alongside plenty of established favourites.
"I'm not afraid of being a Schubert specialist. He's taken up a lot of my waking time for more than 30 years. In fact, you could say that his songs and his piano music have sometimes been close to an obsession for me". - So says the British pianist Imogen Cooper , whose new disc really makes Schubert's music shine.
It was recorded live in concert at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall , and this double-CD is the first of three volumes which will see Imogen uncovering relatively unknown gems alongside plenty of established favourites.
Twenty years ago, she recorded all the piano music Schubert wrote in the five year period from 1823 until his death in 1828. So why's she's returning to him now?
In Imogen's own words, "One of the reasons I've taken it all up again is that I feel it ten times more strongly than I did 20 years ago: the message has become more direct to me. Schubert has become even more necessary to my well-being, and I sense strongly that he is important for an audience's well-being, too".
27 April 2009
