Imogen Cooper

"How can you possibly compose anything after Beethoven?" asked Schubert despairingly. Schumann gave this response, when in 1835 he published some of Schubert's piano sonatas: "This is the most beautiful piece I've heard since Beethoven!" Schumann's words found little favour with the public, however. While Schubert's worth as a song composer was never disputed, his piano sonatas remained long unappreciated. Public opinion considered the song composer not to be so competent in larger musical idioms such as the sonata form. This perception remained right up until the twentieth century, when pianists such as Arthur Schnabel and more recently Alfred Brendel rediscovered the Schubert sonatas. Under their impetus the sonatas finally found their rightful place alongside the great inheritance of Beethoven. Just like Beethoven, Schubert succeeded in translating his personal feelings into general human feelings, albeit in his own way. The dialectic conflict between contrasting themes, so prominent in Beethoven's work, is not found in Schubert. He let his imagination run wild and gave the themes time and space to breathe, as illustrated by the ingenious use of harmony and subtle chiaroscuro effects. Schubert's world of light and shadow forms the natural habitat for the English pianist Imogen Cooper, whose teachers included Alfred Brendel.