Cooper fails to sparkle.

Byline: Jo Kirkbride

Imogen Cooper and Northern Sinfonia at The Sage Gateshead ALTHOUGH Imogen Cooper has garnered an international reputation as a pianist of some renown, this mixed bag of performances marked an unusually disappointing evening at the Sage with Northern Sinfonia. Faithful Sinfonia supporters have come to expect a high level of performance from this superlative group of musicians, and left in the capable hands of violinist/director Bradley Creswick the orchestra rarely fails to please. But Hall One lacked a certain energy on Tuesday evening as Imogen Cooper joined them for Mozart's Piano Concertos Nos. 18 and 22, alongside Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 3 and Britten's youthful Simple Symphony. The problem seemed to be one of communication, for although Creswick was ostensibly cast as 'Director' for the evening, he only really took centre stage for Bach's orchestral suite. With Creswick at the helm for this exuberant set of dances, the orchestra came to life, clearly delighting in Bach's colourful textures and finding a renewed sense of vigour that shone through in their sensitive and nuanced playing. Sadly, elsewhere the programme fell rather flat. Creswick took more of back seat in the opening Simple Symphony, and this seemed to affect the performance, which was rather untidy and lacking in clarity. Imogen Cooper's two appearances as soloist also lacked sparkle, and with little communication between her and the orchestra, the two concertos lost the necessary drive and vitality, instead merging into a rather homogeneous series of scales and passagework. There were occasional glimmers of radiance in Cooper's performance, but as a soloist she was outshone by the excellent woodwind, notably Juliette Bausor (flute), who injected moments of poignant beauty into an otherwise somewhat bland concert. Jo Kirkbride