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Alfred Brendel Top 10 Recordings · The Piano Maven with Jed Distler

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This is Jed Disler, and welcome to The Piano
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Maven, your friendly podcast guide to piano recordings.
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A few days ago, the news came through that pianist
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Alfred Brendel had passed away at the age of
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94. And with so many of my musician colleagues
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and fellow music writers weighing in on social
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media, Several colleagues called me and texted
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me wanting my thoughts about this performance
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or that recording. My friend Tim Page wrote a
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very perceptive and informative obituary for
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the Washington Post, and he generously included
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a quotation from a booklet note that I had written
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about Alfred Brendel's early recordings. I attended
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some of Alfred Brendel's recitals and concerto
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performances in the 1980s and early 1990s in
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New York. always at Carnegie Hall. Actually,
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once at Lincoln Center at Avery Fisher Hall.
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I'm still not used to having to call it Geffen
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Hall. It's the same way that I refuse to call
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Carnegie Hall Isaac Stern Hall. And I think it
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was at Geffen Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, where
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I heard Alfred Brendel play a wonderful performance
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of the Schoenberg Piano Concerto with Zubin Mehta
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conducting the New York Philharmonic. I've reviewed
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many of Alfred Brendel's recordings over the
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years, most comprehensively in the reviews that
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I did of those two big box sets. One is from
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Brilliant Classics, which contains Brendel's
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complete solo and concerto recordings for the
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Vox and Vanguard labels. And for Gramophone,
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I reviewed Decca's Big Box, containing Brendel's
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complete Phillips recordings, and it also contained
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his commercial recordings for Deutsche Gramophone,
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Decca, and EMI. Missing just a couple of items,
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however. If you read my Brendel reviews, you
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will find out that I've... always harbored a
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kind of ambivalence about certain aspects of
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Brendel's pianism and his interpretations. And
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rather than go into great detail about that here,
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I'm posting links to these reviews in our episode
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description. And these are reviews that I wrote
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for classicstoday .com. And they're pretty detailed,
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so you can really see chapter and verse about
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what I like or don't like about certain recordings.
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But for this episode, I decided to list 10 recordings
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that I think represent Alfred Brendel's fusion
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of pianism and artistry in the most convincing
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and rewarding ways. So let's start. My first
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recording, number one on this list, is the Schubert
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Sonata in C minor, Deutsch number 958, the first
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of the three so -called possumus sonatas. And
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this is the first recording that he made of this
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work. It's on the Vanguard label, and I think
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it's just fantastic, because in this recording,
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Brendel fuses headlong intensity with lyrical
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repose in a way that's more organic and natural
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to my ears than in his relatively fussier Phillips
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remakes. And my goodness, what power he unleashes
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in the finale. Those galloping triplets are like
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a bucking bronco, but they don't spin out of
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control or lose focus. It is true in this recording
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that Brendel does not take the first movement
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exposition repeat, but look, it doesn't really
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matter. Okay, recording number two. This is the
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coupling of Mozart's concertos in D minor, Cursal
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466, and C minor, Cursal 491, with Charles Macaris
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conducting the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. And
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as much as I enjoy Brendel's earlier recordings
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on Phillips of these two minor key concertos
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with Neville Mariner conducting, These digital
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remakes with Macaris, I think, are far more detailed
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and imaginatively inflected and full of inner
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drama. They just come alive in every moment,
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and they are gorgeously engineered as well. Number
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three, the Schoenberg Concerto. This was a specialty
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of Alfred Brendel's. He championed this. pretty
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much throughout his career. The recording that
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I like the best of his three commercial versions
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is the one that he did for Deutsche Grammophon
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with Raphael Kublik conducting the Bavarian Radio
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Symphony Orchestra. Here, I think that Brendel
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invests Schoenberg's piano writing with character
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and inflection that somehow communicates an affinity
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with Brahms piano music. kind of continuation
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of that lineage. And while the orchestral image
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is not so lean and transparent as you hear in
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the Mitsuko Ushida Pierre Boulez recording, or
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even the Emmanuel Axe Esa -Pekka Salonen recording,
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I love the heft and resonance and color that
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Kubelik elicits from the Bavarian radio winds
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and brass. And this is a wonderful collaboration,
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and it's beautifully recorded, too. So the Schoenberg
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Concerto with Brendel and Kubelik. Number four,
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the Liszt Totentanz with Bernard Haitink conducting
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the London Philharmonic. you would never associate
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Alfred Brindle's scholarly demeanor with the
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elemental, hard -hitting, and positively demonic.
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playing that he displays in this recording of
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Totentanz. And there's more sting and bite, I
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think, to Bernard Heiting's London Philharmonic
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than you hear with the same conductor and orchestra
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in their cycle of Liszt tone poems. I mean, this
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is kind of an atypical Brendel recording, but
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this is really edge of seat Liszt playing and
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how. Number five. Beethoven's Diabelli Variations,
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and the one I want to recommend is the 1988 studio
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recording for Philips. Earlier this year, I did
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an extended episode about the Diabelli Variations
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comparing different pianists, and I talked about
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the four commercially issued recordings with
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Alfred Brindle playing this work. Brendel himself
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favored his live performance from Royal Festival
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Hall that took place on May 30th, 2001, which
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was released on Decca. And certainly it's the
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most spontaneous and unified of the four recordings.
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Even though here and there, there are some telltale
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signs that he's not quite mustering up the energy
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he had when he was younger. Certainly in that
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earlier 1976 live recording, which was also made
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in London. But I think that Brendel's 1988 studio
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recording seems to split the difference between
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the two live versions' strong points. And the
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sound quality is even warmer. And also, Brendel
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has the advantage of studio editing, although
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those two live recordings are impressively accurate
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in and of themselves. So while... I definitely
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would seek out those two live Phillips Diabellis
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with Alfred Brendel. I would start with his 1988
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studio version. Number six on my list. This may
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surprise you. Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition.
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And this is his Vox recording from the 1950s.
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He re -recorded this for Phillips in the 80s,
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I think. But I prefer this Vox version in every
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way. You have to remember that Alfred Brendel
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played next to no Russian music, except maybe
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for the Vox recordings of the Prokofiev Fifth
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Concerto. And there's a really impressive account
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of Balakirev's Islame, and also the three movements
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from Petrushka of Stravinsky. That is a fabulous
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recording, too. But I think the pictures and
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exhibition is technically strong and musically
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sound. I think it's always held its own alongside
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versions that you would more readily cite, like
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those of Sviatoslav Richter, Byron Janis, Gary
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Grafman, or Vladimir Ashkenazi. Number seven
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on my list, we have music of Mozart again. And
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this is the Sonata in F major, Kershaw 533 and
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494. This is a recording released in 2003 that
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I just adore. And he recorded the sonata in 1992,
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but I much prefer this version because I think
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he reaches levels of nuance and timing and harmonic
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shading only hinted at in the 1992 recording.
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Listen to the way he organizes the first movement's
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canonic motion so that the entrances sound almost
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as if they're coming from different instruments.
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And the slow movement has a newfound serenity
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and a lyric quality that's completely natural
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and unforced. And also, Brendel fuses delicacy
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and strength to marvelous effect in the rondo,
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although the movement's music box -like textures
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don't quite shimmer in this recording as they
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did when I heard Brendel play the piece live
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at Carnegie Hall back in April of 2002. While
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Brendel observed all the repeats in 1992, in
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this recording he wisely omits the second repeats
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in the first two movements, which I think makes
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a lot more sense. I should mention, though, that
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there is a live recording of this sonata from
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2008. taken from Alfred Brendel's series of farewell
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concerts. And in this live performance, he takes
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the first movement to shade faster, and it's
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a little bit lighter. And in the finale, you
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do get that music box quality that does not quite
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manifest in the 2003 release. So I'm kind of
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cheating here. I'm giving you a choice between
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Brendel's... 2003 release and the 2008 farewell
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concert in the Mozart K533 -494 Sonata. Number
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eight on my list is the Sonata No. 2, Op. 39
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in E -flat Major by Carl Maria von Weber. I heard
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Brendel play this in concert, and it was just
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a marvelous performance. You know, this work
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has been actually quite lucky on disc. You have
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that fantastic pioneering recording, I think,
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from 1939 with Alfred Courtauld. And then there
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are, I think, several live Emile Guillel's performances.
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The one that I know best was the 1969 Carnegie
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Hall recording. And there also was a wonderful
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studio recording by Dino Ciani. And to this list,
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I also would add Alfred Brendel. He plays the
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andante as if it was an orchestral transcription
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with a lot of variety in his sound and lots of
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dynamic contrast. And although he takes the minuetto
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capriccioso at quite a clip here, the melodic
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rise and fall unfolds with no effort at all.
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And Brendel's fingers are really at their most
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supple. This is a terrific recording. Number
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nine, the Schumann Concerto with Kurt Sanderling
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conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra. Brendel
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recorded the Schumann Concerto twice in the studio.
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There was his 1984 version with Claudio Abato
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in the London Symphony Orchestra, which was coupled
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with Weber's Concertstück for piano and orchestra.
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Then Brendel re -recorded the Schumann for a
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1998 release with Kurt Zunderling conducting
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the Philharmonia Orchestra, and it was coupled
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with Schumann's C major fantasy. And for all
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the Abato versions, surface elegance and mobility,
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I tend to gravitate toward the heft and the mass
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and the strong bass lines that characterize Zunderling's
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orchestral framework. While Brendel's dynamic
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surges and his forceful accents in the first
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movement really keep things moving, some people
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will think that Brendel underplays the finale's
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cross rhythms and that his rather relaxed and
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lyrical approach doesn't. communicate the music's
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exuberance the way, let's say, that the Rudolf
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Zirkin version does. But this is an intelligent
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and very shapely interpretation, and I think
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quite special in its own way. And last on my
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list, number 10, is the theme with variations
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by Brahms, arranged by the composer from the
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second movement of his string sextet, opus 18.
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My gramophone colleague, David Fanning, really
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did not like this recording. And I want to quote
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from his review. He said that it is a moot point
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where legitimate coarseness ends and ugliness
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begins. That's kind of harsh. I can understand
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why he wrote that. And, you know, one can argue
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that there's sometimes a kind of... effortfulness
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to the spread chords and that brendel does use
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a lot of pedal maybe too much but brendel conveys
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an intense kind of gothic grandeur and fullness
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of body that almost makes this music sound like
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not so much a Brahms transcription, but more
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like a Busoni transcription. And I really like
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it. And the transitions between variations are
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totally insidious. And the impassioned intensity
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and cumulative force. of this performance has
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always held my attention. And I re -listened
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to it very recently and it still held up very
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well. I still really love this. Also, this recording
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showcases Brindle's ability to project his sonority
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at full force out in any venue so that whatever
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he plays at any dynamic level, loud or soft,
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always had body and definition. And I get a real
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sense of that in this recording. And if I can
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sneak in something extra, also on this 1989 release
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that contained Mozart's DuPort Variations and
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Mendelssohn's Variations Series, was the second...
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of the two recordings that Brendel made of Franz
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Liszt's variations on Weinen, Klagen, Sorghen,
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Sagen. He recorded this first in 1975 for Phillips,
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and then he remade it on this 1989 disc. But
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for some reason, this... 1989 version was omitted
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from that complete brindle phillips recordings
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box set that i mentioned earlier so i've held
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on to this original single release it was called
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theme and variations volume one i think if you
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want the phillips catalog number it's four two
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six two seven two And this is the only way that
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you can get that later Weinenklanken variations.
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And by the way, I heard Brendel play this Liszt
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piece in concert. And when I was talking about
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Brendel's projection, my goodness, I will never
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forget how his sound just carried up to the balcony.
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And it was like Clark Kent changing into Superman.
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This was one of the most memorable concert experiences
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of a pianist in my life. And I'll never, never
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forget it. So I think that if you check out these
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10 Alfred Brendel recordings, you will get more
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than a good idea of the unassailable integrity
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and the commitment that this pianist conveyed
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in his best recorded performances. Now, I know
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that you'll have favorite Alfred Brendel recordings
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that are not on this list, of course, but...
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I wanted to at least try and cover as broad a
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range of his recorded repertoire as I could within
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reason. This is Jed Disler, and you just heard
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a lot of sirens in the background, but that's
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the way it is recording in my New York studio.
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You've been listening to The Piano Maven, your
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friendly podcast guide to piano recordings, and
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I look forward to being with you for the next
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episode. Take good care and stay well.