An evening of rare quality and unbridled emotion

The first half, a selection of Gustav Mahler’s settings of the collection of folk poems, Des Knaben Wunderhorn, was the perfect dialogue of the human voice with piano.

The songs, reflecting the growth of German nationalism in the early 19th Century, contain much beauty that relates to the present day. Holzmair’s attention to the most minute detail, the slightest emphasis, his immaculate diction, speared the soul.

Every single finger movement of every hand gesture was dramatically  orchestrated; every facial expression a spell-binding contact with the audience.

A second half of Lieder, remorselessly driven by Miss Cooper’s surging partnership, brought a full-blooded theatrical performance from Holzmair: It had humour, pathos and peerless musicality.

A telling silence at the end, possibly a full minute, with Holzmair’s cupped hands near his face and Miss Cooper’s hands motionless above the keyboard, said it all.

Be it changing tastes or the recession but to see this venue roughly only two thirds full for a world class programme was surprising.