Schumann: "Abegg" Variations, Davidsbündlertänze, Novellette

This recording is Imogen Cooper’s third Chandos release, following earlier discs of works by Brahms and Robert and Clara Schumann. Ms. Cooper describes Schumann’s Davidsbu?ndlertänze, op. 6 as a “work of stirring beauty and humor that make it one of the great romantic masterpieces for the piano.” The Abegg Variations, op. 1 is “virtuosic, extroverted and charming”; the Geistervariationen, his last composed piano pieces, “introverted and sparse.” Finally, in the two Novelletten, Imogen Cooper desires to reveal what she calls the “hidden narrative filaments to be discovered.” Review: Everything Cooper does speaks of long acquaintance and real empathy. Her readings are unfailingly absorbing. – Gramophone