Great Pianists of the 20th Century – Alfred Brendel III
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Great Pianists of the 20th Century - Alfred Brendel
III is volume 14 of the Great Pianists of the 20th Century box set and is the third of three volumes dedicated to him. It features music by the composers Felix Mendelssohn
, Carl Maria von Weber
, Johannes Brahms
, Frédéric Chopin
, Franz Liszt
, and Ferruccio Busoni
. It was issued in CD format in 1999.
of the Gramophone. He was particularly pleased with the 1986 live recording of Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1
with Claudio Abbado
and the Berlin Philharmonic, and described Brendel's rendition of Vallée d'Obermann as "one of the most inspired of his Liszt recordings."
It was also reviewed by Peter Burwasser in Fanfare
. This critic was less pleased with the Brahms concerto recording, saying "this Brahms performance is a contrast of the straightforward, unsentimental, yet fully engaged and powerfully expressed playing of Brendel with the thick, bloated sound of the Berlin Philharmonic under Abbado." He much preferred Bernard Haitink
's conducting in Liszt's Totentanz
. He also notes that "Brendel's Chopin doesn't really work, although it is fascinating to hear what he makes of this music. This Chopin playing, even in one of the big polonaises, is too brusque and rhythmically unyielding, even as it is emotionally honest and bristling with energy."
unless otherwise noted.
Alfred Brendel
Alfred Brendel KBE is an Austrian pianist, born in Czechoslovakia and a resident of the United Kingdom. He is also a poet and author.-Biography:...
III is volume 14 of the Great Pianists of the 20th Century box set and is the third of three volumes dedicated to him. It features music by the composers Felix Mendelssohn
Felix Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text...
, Carl Maria von Weber
Carl Maria von Weber
Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber was a German composer, conductor, pianist, guitarist and critic, one of the first significant composers of the Romantic school....
, Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
, Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....
, Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...
, and Ferruccio Busoni
Ferruccio Busoni
Ferruccio Busoni was an Italian composer, pianist, editor, writer, piano and composition teacher, and conductor.-Biography:...
. It was issued in CD format in 1999.
Critical reception
The album was selected as one of the highlights of the 200-CD series by Rob CowanRob Cowan
Rob Cowan is a British music broadcaster and writer.Employed by music publisher Boosey & Hawkes for nineteen years in various capacities, his first record review was published in 1967. He edited CD Review for four years from 1985 and became a co-presenter with jazz and classical music writer Keith...
of the Gramophone. He was particularly pleased with the 1986 live recording of Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1
Piano Concerto No. 1 (Brahms)
The Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15, is a work for piano and orchestra composed by Johannes Brahms in 1858. The composer gave the work's public debut in Hanover, Germany, the following year.-Form:...
with Claudio Abbado
Claudio Abbado
Claudio Abbado, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI , is an Italian conductor. He has served as music director of the La Scala opera house in Milan, principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, principal guest conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, music director of the Vienna State Opera,...
and the Berlin Philharmonic, and described Brendel's rendition of Vallée d'Obermann as "one of the most inspired of his Liszt recordings."
It was also reviewed by Peter Burwasser in Fanfare
Fanfare Magazine
Fanfare is a magazine devoted to reviewing classical music performance and recordings.Fanfare's contributors have a range of expertise from the medieval to contemporary work...
. This critic was less pleased with the Brahms concerto recording, saying "this Brahms performance is a contrast of the straightforward, unsentimental, yet fully engaged and powerfully expressed playing of Brendel with the thick, bloated sound of the Berlin Philharmonic under Abbado." He much preferred Bernard Haitink
Bernard Haitink
Bernard Johan Herman Haitink, CH, KBE is a Dutch conductor and violinist.- Early life :Haitink was born in Amsterdam, the son of Willem Haitink and Anna Haitink. He studied music at the conservatoire in Amsterdam...
's conducting in Liszt's Totentanz
Totentanz (Liszt)
Totentanz : Paraphrase on Dies irae , S.126, is the name of a symphonic piece for solo piano and orchestra by Franz Liszt, which is notable for being based on the Gregorian plainchant melody Dies Irae as well as for daring stylistic innovations...
. He also notes that "Brendel's Chopin doesn't really work, although it is fascinating to hear what he makes of this music. This Chopin playing, even in one of the big polonaises, is too brusque and rhythmically unyielding, even as it is emotionally honest and bristling with energy."
Track listing
All tracks are reissues from Philips Classics RecordsPhilips Classics Records
Philips Classics Records was started in the 1980s as the new classics record label for Philips Records. It was successful with artists including Alfred Brendel, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Sir Neville Marriner and the Academy of St...
unless otherwise noted.
| Compact Disc 1 | 76:31 | |||
| Felix Mendelssohn Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text... : |
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| 1. | Variations sérieuses, Op. 54 | 10:32 | ||
| (Recorded: The Maltings Snape Snape Maltings Snape Maltings is part of Snape, Suffolk, U.K., best known for its concert hall, which is one of the main sites of the annual Aldeburgh Festival.... , UK; July 1989) |
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| Carl Maria von Weber Carl Maria von Weber Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber was a German composer, conductor, pianist, guitarist and critic, one of the first significant composers of the Romantic school.... : |
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| Konzertstück in F minor, Op. 79 Konzertstück for Piano and Orchestra in F minor (Weber) The Konzertstück in F minor for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 79, J. 282, was written by Carl Maria von Weber. He started work on it in 1815, and completed it on the morning of the premiere of his opera Der Freischütz, 18 June 1821... |
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| 2. | Larghetto affettuoso Allegro passionato | 9:51 | ||
| 3. | Adagio Tempo di Marcia Più mosso Presto giocoso | 7:32 | ||
| London Symphony Orchestra London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra is a major orchestra of the United Kingdom, as well as one of the best-known orchestras in the world. Since 1982, the LSO has been based in London's Barbican Centre.-History:... ; Claudio Abbado Claudio Abbado Claudio Abbado, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI , is an Italian conductor. He has served as music director of the La Scala opera house in Milan, principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, principal guest conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, music director of the Vienna State Opera,... , conducting |
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| (Recorded: Town Hall, Watford Watford Watford is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, situated northwest of central London and within the bounds of the M25 motorway. The borough is separated from Greater London to the south by the urbanised parish of Watford Rural in the Three Rivers District.Watford was created as an urban... , UK; June 1979) |
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| Johannes Brahms Johannes Brahms Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene... : |
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| Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15 Piano Concerto No. 1 (Brahms) The Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15, is a work for piano and orchestra composed by Johannes Brahms in 1858. The composer gave the work's public debut in Hanover, Germany, the following year.-Form:... |
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| 4. | 1. Maestoso Poco più moderato | 22:39 | ||
| 5. | 2. Adagio | 13:46 | ||
| 6. | 3. Allegro non troppo | 12:11 | ||
| Berliner Philharmoniker; Claudio Abbado, conducting | ||||
| (Recorded: Jesus-Christus-Kirche, Berlin Berlin Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union... ; September 1986) |
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| Compact Disc 2 | 72:22 | |||
| Frédéric Chopin Frédéric Chopin Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano".... : |
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| 1. | Polonaise in F-sharp minor, Op. 44 | 11:22 | ||
| (Recorded: April 1968; from Vanguard Classics Vanguard Records Vanguard Records is a record label set up in 1950 by brothers Maynard and Seymour Solomon in New York. It started as a classical label, but is perhaps best known for its catalogue of recordings by a number of pivotal folk and blues artists from the 1960s; the Bach Guild was a subsidiary... , 1991) |
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| Franz Liszt Franz Liszt Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age... : |
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| 2. | Vallée d'Obermann | 12:48 | ||
| No. 6 from Années de Pèlerinage: Première année: Suisse | ||||
| (Recorded live: Concertgebouw, Amsterdam; 1981 Concertgebouw The Concertgebouw is a concert hall in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Dutch term "concertgebouw" literally translates into English as "concert building"... ) |
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| 3. | Orage | 4:17 | ||
| No. 5 from Années de Pèlerinage: Première année: Suisse | ||||
| (Recorded: Walthamstow, London; October 1986) | ||||
| 4. | Totentanz Totentanz (Liszt) Totentanz : Paraphrase on Dies irae , S.126, is the name of a symphonic piece for solo piano and orchestra by Franz Liszt, which is notable for being based on the Gregorian plainchant melody Dies Irae as well as for daring stylistic innovations... |
15:26 | ||
| London Philharmonic Orchestra London Philharmonic Orchestra The London Philharmonic Orchestra , based in London, is one of the major orchestras of the United Kingdom, and is based in the Royal Festival Hall. In addition, the LPO is the main resident orchestra of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera... ; Bernard Haitink Bernard Haitink Bernard Johan Herman Haitink, CH, KBE is a Dutch conductor and violinist.- Early life :Haitink was born in Amsterdam, the son of Willem Haitink and Anna Haitink. He studied music at the conservatoire in Amsterdam... , conducting |
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| (Recorded: Walthamstow, London; May 1972) | ||||
| 5. | Sposalizio Sposalizio Sposalizio is the title of the first piece in Franz Liszt's Deuxième Année de Pèlerinage: Italie , published in 1858. The composition starts out with a simple pentatonic melody, which transforms itself into a complex musical architecture... |
6:43 | ||
| No. 1 from Années de Pèlerinage: Deuxième année: Italie | ||||
| (Recorded live: Queen Elizabeth Hall Queen Elizabeth Hall The Queen Elizabeth Hall is a music venue on the South Bank in London, United Kingdom that hosts daily classical, jazz, and avant-garde music and dance performances. The QEH forms part of Southbank Centre arts complex and stands alongside the Royal Festival Hall, which was built for the Festival... , London; 1972; from BBC Records BBC Records BBC Records is a division of the British Broadcasting Corporation founded in the 1960s to exploit the corporation's audio archive for both educational and commercial purposes.... , 1985) |
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| 6. | Bagatelle sans tonalité Bagatelle sans tonalité Bagatelle sans tonalité is a piece for solo piano written by Franz Liszt in 1885. The manuscript bears the title "Fourth Mephisto Waltz" and may have been intended to replace the piece now known as the Fourth Mephisto Waltz when it appeared Liszt would not be able to finish it; the phrase... |
2:33 | ||
| (Recorded live: Queen Elizabeth Hall, London; 1972; from BBC Records, 1985) | ||||
| 7. | Hungarian Rhapsody No. 15 in A minor "Rakoczy March" Hungarian Rhapsodies Hungarian Rhapsody redirects here. For the 1979 Hungarian film Hungarian Rhapsody . For the 1928 German film Ungarische Rhapsodie.The Hungarian Rhapsodies, S.244, R106, is a set of 19 piano pieces based on Hungarian folk themes, composed by Franz Liszt during 1846-1853, and later in 1882 and 1885... |
5:33 | ||
| (From Vanguard Classics, 1992) | ||||
| 8. | La lugubre gondola No. 1 | 4:16 | ||
| (Recorded: Town Hall, Watford Watford Watford is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, situated northwest of central London and within the bounds of the M25 motorway. The borough is separated from Greater London to the south by the urbanised parish of Watford Rural in the Three Rivers District.Watford was created as an urban... , UK; June 1981) |
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| Ferruccio Busoni Ferruccio Busoni Ferruccio Busoni was an Italian composer, pianist, editor, writer, piano and composition teacher, and conductor.-Biography:... : |
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| 9. | Toccata | 9:24 | ||
| Preludio Fantasia Ciaccona | ||||
| (Recorded live: Großer Konzerthaussaal, Vienna Konzerthaus, Vienna The Konzerthaus in Vienna was opened 1913. It is situated in the third district just at the edge of the first district in Vienna. Since it was founded it has always tried to emphasise both tradition and innovative musical styles.In 1890 the first ideas for a Haus für Musikfeste came about... ; 1979) |
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See also
- Alfred Brendel discographyAlfred Brendel discographyThe pianist, Alfred Brendel KBE was a recording artist for more than half a century, from his first record of Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 5 at the age of 21, to his farewell concerts in 2008, recorded in Hanover and Vienna. He has recorded with only three record companies: Vox Records, DECCA...
- Alfred Brendel - Unpublished Live and Radio Performances 1968-2001
External links
- Alfred Brendel's official website. Accessed 20 November 2009.