ALBUM OF THE WEEK
BEETHOVEN
Diabelli Variations, Bagatelles, Op 119, Für Elise
Imogen Cooper (piano)
Chandos CHAN2005
The doyenne of British pianists’ first encounter with the monumental 33 Variations on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli is the outcome of an intense recent period of study of Beethoven’s longest work for solo piano. Characteristically, she programmes Op 120 with the adjacent Op 119 Bagatelles, completed during the period when the composer took a break from the Variations to complete his transcendent Missa Solemnis, and containing his shortest work, Allegramente in A major, which lasts barely more than 10 seconds. Like the shorter Variations — No 10 (presto) and No 15 (presto scherzando) — it’s a deft miniature, dispatched by Cooper with an airy, mercurial touch. She
MUSIC
On record: Classical, March 17
The week’s essential new releases
The Sunday Times
An airy, mercurial touch: Imogen Cooper
SUSSIE AHLBURG
