Alfred Brendel On Music: Collected Essays

Editions

Review

For anyone who has either of Brendel’s previous volumes on music (Music Sounded Out pbk £10.95 and Musical Thoughts And Afterthoughts pbk £6.95), there are only a couple of previously uncollected essays here, although many of the original pieces have been revised or expanded.

If, like me, you’ve been lucky enough to hear Brendel play live, (in my case, several memorable evenings at the Royal Festival Hall) or if you have some of his superb recordings, then perhaps you had already guessed at the extent to which he understands the music he performs - if not, these essays will show you a musician who not only loves his music, but who thinks about it.  You don’t have to be a great pianist, or even a regular concert-goer, to identify with some of the questions he asks and some of the problems he discusses - all of them concerned with the interpretation of the great composers and with performance.  The composers who receive the most attention are Beethoven (well, of course), Schubert (whose music Brendel helped to restore to a position of prominence in concert programmes) and Liszt.  Mozart is by no means neglected, I wish there had been more on Chopin, and Rachmaninov fans should look the other way…

I have not read this book from cover to cover - I have looked at the chapters which sounded interesting to me, and I imagine that is the intention of the collection.  After all, there are some composers I don’t choose to listen to, and - at the moment - I wouldn’t really read about them or their music.  There are musical examples, and it does help if you read music or if you’ve heard the pieces discussed, but on the whole Brendel makes his points clearly, and appears to be directing them to the cheerful amateurs in the audience like me, rather than to academics or geniuses!  Nor is he afraid to express some forthright opinions on techniques, programmes and composers, although you won’t be surprised to learn no performers are actually named and shamed.

This great pianist’s intellect and enthusiasm leap off the pages, and you will immediately want to put on your recordings of Beethoven and Schubert piano sonatas - you have been warned! - review by Dan Fenton