Saturday, July 5th
passings
Alfred Brendel, pianist, writer, January 5, 1931-June 17, 2025
Live, Austria (Vienna), 1979: Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924), Toccata K.287 (1921)
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Chicago
music clip of the day
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Tag: Alfred Brendel
2024
Saturday, August 31st
never enough
Frederic Chopin (1810-1849), Preludes, Op. 28 (1835-1839); Alfred Cortot (1877-1962, piano), 1933
He is the one pianist who equally satisfies my mind, my senses, and my emotions…three-dimensional playing.
A good performance is complex. Cortot’s recording of Chopin’s 24 preludes (1933), I listened to that recording very early on, not each week but a few times a year. And even today it has lost none of its overwhelming freshness and surprising variety. It’s a mixture of spontaneity and exact calculation, actually a calculated spontaneity which nonetheless seems utterly spontaneous. Perhaps only Cortot, in his best performances, could achieve that. You have 24 pieces, sounding like 24 different characters. Character for me is always a very important factor. It’s not just a question of keys and tempi, but of 24 different individuals expressed in miniature form. Which is precisely what Cortot achieves in this recording. He has the control to give each piece its character at once; you have, as it were, the impression that each first note is already a signal for what is to follow.
—Alfred Brendel (1931-), pianist, writer
2023
Saturday, August 26th
never enough
Alfred Brendel (1931-, piano), live, England (Snape, Suffolk), 2000: Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809), Piano Sonata in E-flat major (Hob. XVI/49, L.59); Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), Piano Sonata No. 14 in C minor (K.457, 21:40-)
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Oak Park, Ill.
2023
Saturday, July 1st
This recording, the moment it ends, I want to hear it again.
Alfred Brendel (1931-, piano), 1984: Joseph Haydn (1732-1809), Adagio in F, H.XVII No. 9
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, outside Chicago
2012
Thursday, 5/24/12
A high school girl in Reykjavik, an old man in Prague, a grieving widow in Sydney: no matter who you are, no matter where you are, these sounds are just a click away.
Franz Schubert, Piano Sonatas D. 958 (C minor), 959 (A major), 960 (B-flat major); Alfred Brendel, piano*
One of the delights of doing this blog is imagining the lives of the folks who stop by. In the past few days, for instance, there’ve been visitors from Germany, Netherlands, France, Syria, and Italy; Lithuania, Sweden, United Kingdom, and Mexico; Greece, New Zealand, Belgium, Israel, and Ethiopia; Colombia, Hungary, Slovakia, and Spain; Mongolia, Argentina, Indonesia, Turkey, Pakistan, Singapore, and the United States. To all: Welcome!
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*Here, courtesy of YouTube, is more detailed information about the program:
Sonata in C minor, D. 958
I Allegro
II Adagio
III Menuetto: Allegro — Trio
IV Allegro
Sonata in A major, D. 959
I Allegro
II Andantino
III Scherzo: Allegro vivace — Trio: Un poco più lento
IV Rondo. Allegretto — Presto
Sonata in B-flat major, D. 960
I Molto moderato
II Andante sostenuto
III Scherzo: Allegro vivace con delicatezza — Trio
IV Allegro, ma non troppo — Presto
music clip of the day 