Alfred Brendel

Liberties – A Journal of Culture and Politics features original essays and poetry from some of today’s best writers and artists to inspire and impact the intellectual and creative lifeblood of culture and politics. This issue of Liberties includes: Anthony Julius on censorship of the arts; Nicholas Lemann on rescuing capitalism; Alfred Brendel on playing Beethoven; Paul Berman on the George Floyd uprising; Fouad Ajami’s story of an honor killing; Jack Goldsmith on conservatives and the courts; Edward Luttwak on understanding China; Roberto Calasso on when journals mattered; Walter Scheidel on life after covid; Helen Vendler on the poet Robert Hayden; Robert Alter on Lolita today; Daryl Michael Scott on the 13th Amendment; Alastair Macaulay on Balanchine; David Greenberg on renaming our heritage; new poetry from Jorie Graham, Ishion Hutchinson, and Rosanna Warren; and, Leon Wieseltier (editor) and Celeste Marcus (managing editor).

'This book distils what, at my advanced age, I feel able to say about music, musicians, and matters of my pianistic profession.' Ever since Alfred Brendel bid farewell to the concert stage after six decades of performing, he has been passing on his insight and experience in the form of lectures, readings and master-classes. This reader for lovers of the piano distils his musical and linguistic eloquence and vast knowledge, and will prove invaluable to anyone with an interest in the technique, history and repertoire of the piano. Erudite, witty, enlightening and deeply personal, A Pianist's A to Z is the ideal book for all piano lovers, musicians and music aficionados: rarely has the instrument been described in such an entertaining and intelligent fashion.

Sedan Alfred Brendel tog farväl av konsertscenen har han förmedlat sina kunskaper och erfarenheter genom att föreläsa, skriva och undervisa. Den unika kombinationen av musikalisk och språklig vältalighet gör honom till den idealiska vägvisaren i ämnet piano. Detta nyansrika och enastående instrument har sällan skildrats på ett så underhållande, intelligent och kunnigt sätt. En lärd, spirituell och djupt personlig liten bok. Den världsberömde pianisten Alfred Brendel föddes 1931 i Wiesenberg, Mähren, och lever nu i London. » På minimalt utrymme utvecklar han ett inspirerande fyrverkeri av idéer.« Neue Zürcher Zeitung

Alfred Brendel und Peter Gülke pflegen die Kunst des Interpretierens auf einzigartige Weise: Brendel als weltberühmter Pianist, der auch Bücher über Musik publiziert, Peter Gülke als mehrfach für seine Sprach-Kunst des Interpretierens ausgezeichneter Autor, der auch Dirigent ist. In diesem Buch denken sie in einem intellektuell und emotional berührenden Ideen- und Erfahrungsaustausch gemeinsam über die Praxis des Interpretierens nach. Einerseits geschieht dies ganz konkret bezogen auf Schuberts und Beethovens Musik. Andererseits diskutieren sie über Grundsätzliches wie die Frage, welche Freiheit Musikerinnen und Musiker beim Aufführen von Musik haben, und über die Möglichkeiten, sinnvoll über Musik zu sprechen, das heißt: sie sprachlich zu interpretieren.

During a career spanning more than 50 years, pianist Helmut Deutsch has accompanied over 100 singers, including Ian Bostridge, Grace Bumbry, Diana Damrau, Brigitte Fassbaender, Jonas Kaufmann, Angelika Kirchschlager, Camilla Nylund, Christoph Pregardien, Mauro Peter, Hermann Prey, Thomas Quasthoff, Yumiko Samejima, Peter Schreier, Irmgard Seefried and Anne Sofie von Otter. Translated from the German by Richard Stokes, professor of lieder at the Royal Academy of Music, this memoir describes, with humour, honesty and intelligence, Helmut Deutsch's journey from unknown repetiteur to one of the most refined and sought-after accompanists of the modern era, respected by the leading singers of our time, who make music with him and revere him as a great artist and strong musical partner. In this engaging and entertaining account, Deutsch offers fascinating insights into pianistic technique, repertoire, performance, interpersonal relationships, and the special qualities required for his profession: empathy, flexibility, sensitivity, patience and the ability to stand back in the service of others. Deutsch is a captivating narrator, frank and entertaining. From out of tune pianos to jealous singers, his memoir teems with anecdotes and reflections on his multi-faceted life as a musician, offering readers a glimpse of unforgettable moments on and off stage without a trace of vanity.

The title of this collection of essays refers to a tailor's mannequin that Alfred Brendel spotted in a shop window in Arezzo, a small Tuscan town. Who is this strange lady? What is she looking at? And why is she carrying an egg on her head? The mannequin now graces a room in the attic of Brendel's house in Hampstead. Her features convey great artistic seriousness in combination with absurd comedy: the epitome of his own musical and literary preferences. And so, in his delightful new collection, great masters of nonsense meet great masters of music.

Alfred Brendel, one of the greatest pianists of our time, is renowned for his masterly interpretations of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and Liszt, and has been credited with rescuing from oblivion the piano music of Schubert's last years. Far from having merely one string to his bow, however, Brendel is also one of the world's most remarkable writers on music - possessed of the rare ability to bring the clarity and originality of expression that characterised his performances to the printed page. The definitive collection of his award-winning writings and essays, Music, Sense and Nonsense combines all of his work originally published in his two classic books, Musical Thoughts and Afterthoughts and Music Sounded Out, along with significant new material on a lifetime of recording, performance habits and reflections on life and art. As well as providing stimulating reading, this new edition provides a unique insight into the exceptional mind of one of the outstanding musicians of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.Whether discussing Bach or Beethoven, Schubert or Schoenberg, Brendel's reflections are illuminating and challenging, a treasure for the specialist and music lover alike.

Alfred Brendels Buch ist ein brillantes Kompendium der Klaviermusik und zeigt, dass der weltberühmte Pianist auch ein glänzender Stilist und Analytiker ist. Es enthält alle seine viel gerühmten Texte zur Musik in einer überarbeiteten und erweiterten Ausgabe. Ob sich der große Pianist als Mozart-Spieler selbst ermahnt, über lustige Musik sinniert und Werke von Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Liszt, Busoni oder Schönberg beleuchtet - Brendel tut das, worüber er schreibt: Er denkt über Musik nach.

Der Pianist als Dichter: Mit seinen komischen und grotesken Versen baut Alfred Brendel eine luftige Brücke zwischen Sinn und Unsinn. So wird bei ihm Beethoven (der, was auch ziemlich unbekannt ist, ein Neger war) als Mörder von Mozart entlarvt oder die bewegende Frage erörtert, was geschah, als Brahms sich in den Finger geschnitten hatte. In Brendels Gedichten - von denen sämtliche in diesem Band versammelt sind - kommt alles und jeder zur Sprache, sogar ein Speckschwein, das am Telefon grunzend seine Lebensgeschichte erzählt.