Bernstein / Copland: Complete Solo Works For Piano – Andrew Cooperstock

   in Piano International (Sep, 2017)
Andrew Cooperstock is a fine pianist who has specialised in contemporary American music. He presents Bernstein’s complete piano music with aplomb and dedication, including a multitracked first complete recording of the charming Bridal Suite. Cooperstock’s strength is his chameleon-like ability to adapt to the scenery; and Bernstein’s scenery is especially varied in the four sets of Anniversaries that take up the first disc here: heartfelt miniatures – gifts from Bernstein, if you will. Cooperstock finds everything here from hoe-down (‘for Johnny Mehegan’), life-affirming joy (‘For Helen Coates’), jazz (‘For Elizabeth B Ehrman’) to post-tonal lyricism (‘For Lukas Foss’).

Bernstein’s final work, Touches, is a work that seems to ‘touch’ on everything, …