BBC Music Magazine
March 2026
Recording of the Month
Imogen Cooper (piano)
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op. 109
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 31 in A flat major, Op. 110
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111
Bartók: 4 Dirges, Op. 9a, Sz. 45: No. 1, Adagio
Regarded as one of the finest interpreters of classical and romantic repertoire, Imogen Cooper is internationally renowned for her virtuosity and lyricism. Dame Imogen writes: ‘It has taken many years for me to perceive the last three sonatas by Beethoven as the evolving journey I now feel them to be. A combination of wariness of Op. 109 and overawe of Op. 111 kept me solely concentrated on Op. 110, which I can hardly regret. Nor do I regret thereby coming late in life to Opp. 109 and 111. Having come to see the shortcomings of my perception as surmountable, I found that the joys and riches of these wonderful works presented themselves with much more vivid colours than had I tussled with them whilst I was tussling with myself. The case was, incidentally, similar with the “Diabelli” Variations, Op. 120, which I finally approached and embraced in my sixties, with crystal clarity of intention, and unadulterated joy. Now it would be hard for me to play any of the last three sonatas alone, so potent is the journey from first to last. And how privileged my hands feel, having wondered and wandered in the heavenly heights of the last pages of Op. 111, to travel down the keyboard and bring this astonishing last sonata, and indeed the whole body of thirty-two sonatas, to a close, with a quiet chord of C major - no long note value, no fermata. Just silence’.
"What impresses above all in this recording is the deep inwardness of the playing. This is not one single performance; it's the distillation of a lifetime's performances of these seminal works. This album is the record of a meditation, and it's a revelation." - BBC Music Magazine, March 2026
