The composer Frans Schubert was brought to life by Britain’s queen of the keyboard, Imogen Cooper, at her latest recital at The Sage Gateshead. Before launching into her performance, Cooper gave an engaging introduction, inviting the audience to get to know Schubert the man. A solitary and moody person, he was faithful to his friends. Beset by financial troubles and suffering from syphilis, he still managed to write the most beautiful music; fleshed out and made an enriching experience by Cooper. The recital began with 16 Deutsche Tanze; delightful dances Schubert would rattle off at the drop of a hat. Next up was his Sonata in G Major. Cooper’s opening of the reflective opening passages was hypnotic, with the enchanting dance-like themes broken by emphatic statements hammered home with vigour. Six Momens Musicals was followed by Schubert’s Sonata in C minor, which was written in the last three months of his life. Cooper developed the themes with an urgency, laying out the subtle mood changes in all their glory. The last movement has been likened to a macabre dance of death. Cooper inexorably built up the tension until that final might climatic descending scale. She threw herself back in her stool at its conclusion in relief at the release of the work’s excrutiating tension. The breathtaking recital was rounded off with a light piece modelled on a tune Schubert had heard a servant whistling. Perfectly pitched.