Some remarkable playing from this young pianist with a programme that showed off her crystal clear playing of enviable precision and purity.Sounds that were truly of a chiselled beauty that reminded me very much of Michelangeli.It is a school of playing more based on instrumental expertise rather than vocal freedom being more vertical in approach than horizontal. A technical perfection placed at the service of impeccable musicianship with masterly crafted playing of absolute intelligence and sensibility to gradations in sound.But it is a musicianship that thinks more in orchestral layers than individual phrases.

There was no terror for her of the double notes in Scarlatti’s infamous sonata in D minor a favourite encore of Martha Argerich .It was played with beautiful changes of colour as the harpsichord would have changed register but just missed the overall shaping of the phrases.It was a remarkable tour de force and was played at times with great delicacy and superb control but I could not help feeling that this was more of the dance than the song.In fact it is sometimes known as ‘Toccata’ and was a very courageous opening to her recital and the nobility she brought to the final cadence was of a true artist.

Mozart on the other hand was always based on the human voice and although diana played the Allegro moderato with absolute clarity and delicacy with the trills that shone like finely spun jewels just catching a ray of light her playing was more in layers more instrumental than vocal phrasing .There was great control and finesse from a finely spun web of well oiled fingers.The Andante cantabile was played with a chiselled beauty of refined grace and her sensitivity to Mozart’s startling changes of harmony was quite breathtaking .The Allegretto was played with crystal clarity and rhythmic precision but I doubt that these operatic personalities would have been quite so black and white on stage .

The French repertoire found the perfect interpreter with Osieaux tristes played with a chiselled luminosity over sultry moving harmonies of great atmosphere.It was a sound though that was more on the surface than really with weight searching for the sounds within the keys. Perlemuter had learned from Alfred Cortot – never to let go of the key sometimes changing fingers on the same note so that the weight could feel and suck the sounds from within the note which avoids the percussive nature of the piano and persuades us that real legal is actually possible on an instrument of hammers that hit strings.It is an illusion and a pianist should quite simply aim to be the greatest illusionist of all.

The crystalline clarity and rhythmic precision she brought to Alborada was masterly and the repeated notes and double glissandi held no terror for her.A relentless drive interrupted only by fleeting glances of what was going on around but leading to the hysterical final outburst and a masterly ending to this exemplary performance.

Chopin of course was influenced by bel canto of Bellini .Diana with her beautifully delicate chiselled sounds of great purity could float Chopin’s magic melody over a gently murmuring accompaniment in a masterly way.The delicacy of the cascades of notes after the mazurka interruption was of ravishing beauty showing quite extraordinary control.The Polonaise was played with impeccable control and clarity and there were many beautiful moments but one could not help feeling that it missed the overall sweep of a swimmer stroking the waves rather than a runner counting his steps.Diana Cooper is an artist to be reckoned with and although from the French instrumental school of Sancon rather than the poetic one of Cortot her performances were of impeccable musicianly good taste and style and she held her small audience in her spell from the first to the last note with great artistry.

Winner of numerous awards including 1 st Prize at the Brest Chopin Competition, 1 st Prize at the Halina Czerny-Stefanská International Competition in Poznan (Poland) and 1 st Prize at the Concurso Internacional de Piano de Vigo (Spain), Diana Cooper has been invited to perform in various venues and festivals in France and abroad, including the Nohant Chopin Festival , the Festival Chopin à Paris , the Salle Cortot , the Polish Embassy in Paris, the Ysaye Festival in Belgium, the Palacio de Congresos in Huesca (Spain), the Hrvatski dom Split in Croatia, the Kielce Filharmonia in Poland…In 2023, she was selected to take part in the project Un été en France avec Gautier Capuçon , for which she perfomed as a soloist and in chamber music.She was invited in 2018 to take part in the radio program Générations Jeunes Interprètes on France Musique and, in 2023, performed as a trio in the television programme Fauteuils d’orchestre , broadcast on France 5. Her activity has been enriched by solo appearances with the Orchestre Symphonique du Sud Ouest in Chopin’s 1st Concerto, the Orchestre Appassionato in Mozart’s 20 th concerto, and the Orchestre des Lauréats du Conservatoire de Paris in Schumann’s concerto, performed in 2023 at the Cité de la Musique in Paris.

L aureate of the Fondation de la Banque Populaire , the Fondation Safran and the Kathleen Trust , Diana is currently settled in London, studying at the Royal College of Music in London on an Artist Diploma programme in Norma Fisher’s class. She has recently joined the Talent Unlimited charity offering concerts in London for young talented musicians. She is, in parallel, on a second Artist Diploma course at the Conservatoire de Paris (CNSMDP), where she studied formely with Jean-François Heisser and Marie-Josèphe Jude and graduated with a Master’s degree in 2018. She also spent three years at the Ecole Normale de Musique receiving the teaching of Rena Schereshevskaya. In 2022, she was selected to join the new season of the Académie Musicale Philippe Jaroussky , where she perfected her skills with Cédric Thiberghien. Following her pre-selection in 2021 for the prestigious Chopin Competition in Warsaw, she was invited the following summer by Philippe Giusiano to take part in masterclasses in Katowice as well as concerts at the Chopin Manor in Duszniki, organized by the Chopin Foundation. Diana has recently recorded her first CD, featuring works by Haydn, Chopin and Ravel, after winning in 2022 the 1 st Prize in the Concours d’aide aux Jeunes Artistes organized by the Festival du Vexin.