Gary Cooper Volume 4 of Mozart's Sonatas for Keyboard and Violin
12 May 2007
Mozart : Complete Sonatas for Keyboard and Violin, Vol.IV, Cahnnel Classics
GARY COOPER & RACHEL PODGER
"Cooper and Podger have rightly been showered with critical acclaim and awards for this series .... [they] play with exquisite care for detail, beguiling phrasing and panache." Sunday Times
This young British duo are natural Mozartians, phrasing discerningly, summoning plenty of temperament when required, yet never over-egging the pudding when the composer is in guideless vein. (…) (…) the players responding creatively to each other’s phrasing (…) BBC Music Magazine
Suffering from Mozart fatigue from last year’s centenary wallow? Listen to Cooper and Podger and rejuvenation is immediate. The fourth CD in their keyboard and violin cycle criss-crosses between sonatas early and late. Pianos can be dull dogs, but not in Gary Cooper’s case – he is nimble and expressive. And nothing is beyond Rachel Podger’s gut-string violin, not even silky delicacy. Magnificent Mozart playing from a terrific duo.
Geoff Brown, The Times
The interaction between Rachel Podger and the gifted fortepianist Gary Cooper is no less than extraordinary. They succeed in cracking a formidable code that leads the listener to understand the musical connection between single phrases and larger sections within the sonata form Mozart perfected. (…) (…) Podger and Cooper’s masterly first endeavour captures the heart and the mind of the master. The Strad
Forget recent competition in these violin and keyboard sonatas: the honours goto Rachel Podger and Gary Cooper’s series on period instruments. Gut strings and the fortepiano’s dry attack encourage playing with character and snap; but the ultimate delight is the absorption and flair of Podger and Cooper. The Times
Mozart man and boy - and these performers deserves all the accolades. Cooper and Podger throw off the bright, strutting minuet- finale with winning mock-insouciance” Gramophone – Editors Choice September 2006 – Volume 3
Volume four of the complete Mozart Sonatas for keyboard and violin in this critically acclaimed and commercially successful series.
Already regarded as one of the benchmark modern recordings of the keyboard and violin sonatas.
For more information on Gary Cooper and his Mozart cycle