I've been called a 'Brendel fanatic,' a 'Brendel nut,' a 'Brendel devotee,' a 'Brendel purist,' and many other variations on a Brendelian fan theme. This wonderful live performance is a good example of why I have been so attached to this marvellous pianist this last thirty years. I saw him perform the Beethoven cycle twice during the early Nineties in Toronto; the second time I was very close to the maestro in something like the third row at Roy Thompson Hall. Even then I felt like I was watching this performance with thousands of pianists. There's something transcendent about Brendel, especially in the Beethoven arena, where, for me, he has been and remains supreme.
Brendel is the best, I love the man, I love his playing. I got his complete Beethoven piano sonatas and concerti, can't get enough of his playing. Thank you, dear Alfred!
Il est heureux pour les grands compositeurs du passé - que nous aimons tant - qu'ils n'aient pas eu le don de divination et n'aient donc pas su à l'avance que leurs oeuvres allaient être tant jouées, adulées, étudiées, décryptées, diffusées et jetées en pâtures aux oreilles du monde entier. A la fierté aurait pu succéder l'immense crainte de ne pas avoir encore assez bien fait...Venant de ces génies-là cette réaction n'aurait sûrement pas manqué de se produire...(Il n'en va pas de même pour nos minables contemporains qui, eux, n'enfantent que pour ces raisons de diffusions extrêmes et dans l'optique de profits invraisemblables)...Heureusement pour Beethoven et grâce à quelques Brendel, sa musique est en mains sûres et ses craintes pourraient se dissiper. Ils sont bien peu de gardiens de ces trésors à mériter d'en avoir la responsabilité.
The sounds are very clarified and comfortable to listen to. I used to be a big fan of Brendel 20 years ago, then forgot it for a long time. Today, I listened to his piano like this. The genuine art does never change eternally.
Great interpretation! There is also something special in the Adagio: Brendel plays the first sixteenth- note of bar 116(25:02), as f# instead of the d # played by all the others. The reason he gives is as follows: "The first London printing, which appeared almost simultaneously with the Viennese edition by Artaria, offers by comparison several interesting corrections, additions, and alternatives, of which some account has been taken in my performance". All these "corrections" have been omitted from all subsequent editions(thanks to IMSLP for offering nine different editions!), and for good reason: in the London edition, the metronomic indication for the first movement is crotchet instead of minim= 138! And the tempo indication for the 3rd movement is Adagio Espressinato instead of Appassionato! So the f# could well be a copyist mistake, but Brendel seems to find it more to his liking, as he explains in his book "Über Musik". And who are we to disagree with him?
To play this monster live is unbelievable. I owe Brendel a life changing concert 44 y ago. We all owe him, I'll be bound. Thank thee a lot, Sir Alfred.
This is so true... and it is still my favorite recording. Can you tell me more about this concert ? I'd have love so much had the chance to see him live but I was born too late for that ^^
@@DocteurMario31 Volontiers. Donc, je m'en souviens comme si c'était hier. C'était en été 1976 à Winterthour, en Suisse. Au programme il y avait: 1) Concerto Italien de Bach 2) Bénédictions de Dieu dans la solitude de Liszt 3) B-A-C-H de Liszt 4) Une chorale de Bach. J'avais tout juste commencé le piano, et j'étais électrisé par le fait que quelgu'un puisse jouer tout ÇA sans se gourré, sans la moindre fausse note. Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude et le concerto italien furent LES expériences clé qui ont laissé leurs empreintes sur ma future vie musicale. Ayant courru acheter les 33tours correspondants presque sur le champs, je suis tombé, peut-être par Providence et parce que c'était le meilleur marché à l'époque😀, sur celui de Claudio Arrau et c'est dès lors sa version que j'adore par dessus toutes les autres. th-cam.com/video/jN_corqaqgY/w-d-xo.html
@@mikedaniels3009 Merci de partager :) J'ai découvert Brendel quand mes parents m'ont offert l'une de ses intégrales des sonates de Beethoven (ma prof de piano en avait marre de m'entendre cogner sur le piano et elle a glissé à ma mère que je ferais bien d'écouter Brendel). Et par la même occasion, je suis tombé amoureux de la musique de Beethoven, qui me semblait alors, très hermétique. J'écoute rarement Brendel sur Liszt, car assez difficile à trouver sur youtube, mais je partage définitivement votre goût des Bénédictions de Dieu dans la solitude par Claudio Arrau ! Je le trouve incroyable dans ce type de répertoire (Vallée d'Obermann, ballade N°2,...).
I have always thought of Brendel as a fine but somewhat staid pianist. But the directness and excitement of this performance blows me away! Who knows how Beethoven thought this strange music should sound, but I think he would be well pleased with this.
I am grateful and privileged to hear and see this. My eyes are older, but it looked as if he was wearing a few of his legendary bandaids on his hard worked fingers.
Brendel plays the piece on a manner, in which he engages a great clarity. I have heard now different interpretations of the Hammerklavier (Giliels, Richter Aschkenasy, Sokolov, Kempff) and I think that I prefer the controlled and well-thought interpretation of Brendel.
Joseph Lorenz this is the best version of this piece IMO. Brendel has the right tempo for the magnificent first movement, and the lyrical, singing tone of the piano comes out so beautifully in the secondary theme. Some performers take the tempo of this movement too fast and it ends up sounding unpleasant and discordant. I think the composer would have approved of Brendel's pace.
Without a doubt one of the finest recordings of any pianists performing the the Beethoven Opus 29 Hammerklavier riviling that of Clado Arau for artistic purity and intellectual interpretation.
How fortunate we are to live at a time when we can have a recording of such a performance as this one. Even if it were a 78 with some surface noise, Brendel's inspired playing would still have come through.
I didn't know but I think I guess why. For me, it is well above the other versions recorded, for both Brendel and all other pianists ( particulary the last movement^^).
Alon Ostrun Actually I did. Maybe 20 times, but i do not agree with you. Today I regret to have written that Brendel's version is well above the other versions. I think I like almost as well Backauss, Richter, or Yuja Wang's ones. And if I have listened to sokolov version a great amount of time, that is because I found it quite fascinating at first. No one plays each note and each trill as precisely as he does, for example. But I have now the feeling that sokolov wanted his rendition so clean that he missed the point of the sonata (I don't mean I have a better understanding of the piece than him but I don't like his choices at all) . He plays the fuga in the same way than a piece of Bach, whereas the piece says all the violence of Beethoven's feelings ! For example, the sforzandi, yet omnipresent in the score are simply ignored, and this is the same for staccato notes. The way he uses the pedal remove all edges of the the piece. And there is the tempo, so slow... I still do not know if he wanted to do a Bach like interpretation or if he was afraid of missplaying something...
Absolutely wonderfully played by Brendel. The hellish fugue is too fast to my taste, maybe it is for the better like this. In my opinion, this is Beethoven's last sonata - you can practically hear Beethoven's brain unravel, the genius reaches a climax here, the last three sonatas are also wonderful, but they represent the final coda of the development.
34:54 Brendel plays the first fugue in too slow 5'46 minutes instead of the prescripted 4'52 minutes (144 Mälzel a crotchet) Please listen to Gulda live performance of 1970 (4'49 minutes), HJ Lim (4'46 minutes), Laetitia Hahn (4'34 minutes) and Stephan Beus (4'33 minutes). Brendel lamentated always that nobody even being the devil himself could manage Beethoven's speed in op.106. Now you have the possibilitiy to become acquainted with "superdevils", who overdo that speed and demonstrate the real fiery revolutionary Beethoven!
Émile Grigorévitch était l'humilité même : un auditeur enthousiaste le félicitait un jour pour son interprétation ; il lui répondit 'Ah, si vous entendiez Richter !...' Il est certain qu'il approuverait cette superbe interprétation d'Alfre Brendel. Du reste, comment comparer deux artistes ? Cela relève de la pure subjectivité.
Brendel was obsessed with setting down great live recordings. One would have thought it is possible to edit from several performances to get a good recording. Alas, Brendel live was often tense, resulting in unpolished performances. There might be more continuity and unity, but at the expense of repose and variety. I have listened to two live Hammerklaviers by him and really think that in the studio, he was better. Artists lose objectivity in the quest for perfection, which is usually elusive. In his retirement, he should record one movement at a time and get it to his satisfaction before it is set as a permanent record of his art.
Too Extrovert? Really? Would it not be extrovert in that it is the most personal, visceral and tragic outcry the composer ever voiced for any instrument in his entire output. To keep the sonata under wraps is to shove it back into the 18th century and rework it with manners rather than terror & rage. The heartbreak alone spills over into the world, and Brendel, a careful and circumspect poet, understands both sides of tragedy. Is Lear too extrovert?
Probably too fast, yes, although his metronome markings are customarily fast.... As Brendel said. . "Too quick to have time to achieve total consice entepritation" .. Brian
I've been called a 'Brendel fanatic,' a 'Brendel nut,' a 'Brendel devotee,' a 'Brendel purist,' and many other variations on a Brendelian fan theme. This wonderful live performance is a good example of why I have been so attached to this marvellous pianist this last thirty years. I saw him perform the Beethoven cycle twice during the early Nineties in Toronto; the second time I was very close to the maestro in something like the third row at Roy Thompson Hall. Even then I felt like I was watching this performance with thousands of pianists. There's something transcendent about Brendel, especially in the Beethoven arena, where, for me, he has been and remains supreme.
Brendel is the best, I love the man, I love his playing. I got his complete Beethoven piano sonatas and concerti, can't get enough of his playing. Thank you, dear Alfred!
He's my favourite pianist
@@andresmorales5111 Very very very good taste...
And he managed to add a wonderful opus 110 (2007) and opus 27/1 (2008) to improve on his last cycle.
Il est heureux pour les grands compositeurs du passé - que nous aimons tant - qu'ils n'aient pas eu le don de divination et n'aient donc pas su à l'avance que leurs oeuvres allaient être tant jouées, adulées, étudiées, décryptées, diffusées et jetées en pâtures aux oreilles du monde entier. A la fierté aurait pu succéder l'immense crainte de ne pas avoir encore assez bien fait...Venant de ces génies-là cette réaction n'aurait sûrement pas manqué de se produire...(Il n'en va pas de même pour nos minables contemporains qui, eux, n'enfantent que pour ces raisons de diffusions extrêmes et dans l'optique de profits invraisemblables)...Heureusement pour Beethoven et grâce à quelques Brendel, sa musique est en mains sûres et ses craintes pourraient se dissiper. Ils sont bien peu de gardiens de ces trésors à mériter d'en avoir la responsabilité.
The sounds are very clarified and comfortable to listen to. I used to be a big fan of Brendel 20 years ago, then forgot it for a long time. Today, I listened to his piano like this. The genuine art does never change eternally.
0:10 I. Allegro
11:30 II. Scherzo: Assai vivace
14:27 III. Adagio sostenuto
32:33 IV. Introduzione: Largo...Allegro - Fuga: Allegro risoluto
Great interpretation! There is also something special in the Adagio: Brendel plays the first sixteenth- note of bar 116(25:02), as f# instead of the d # played by all the others. The reason he gives is as follows: "The first London printing, which appeared almost simultaneously with the Viennese edition by Artaria, offers by comparison several interesting corrections, additions, and alternatives, of which some account has been taken in my performance". All these "corrections" have been omitted from all subsequent editions(thanks to IMSLP for offering nine different editions!), and for good reason: in the London edition, the metronomic indication for the first movement is crotchet instead of minim= 138! And the tempo indication for the 3rd movement is Adagio Espressinato instead of Appassionato! So the f# could well be a copyist mistake, but Brendel seems to find it more to his liking, as he explains in his book "Über Musik". And who are we to disagree with him?
one of the best recordings of all the time
To play this monster live is unbelievable. I owe Brendel a life changing concert 44 y ago. We all owe him, I'll be bound.
Thank thee a lot, Sir Alfred.
This is so true... and it is still my favorite recording. Can you tell me more about this concert ? I'd have love so much had the chance to see him live but I was born too late for that ^^
@@DocteurMario31 Volontiers. Donc, je m'en souviens comme si c'était hier.
C'était en été 1976 à Winterthour, en Suisse. Au programme il y avait: 1) Concerto Italien de Bach 2) Bénédictions de Dieu dans la solitude de Liszt 3) B-A-C-H de Liszt 4) Une chorale de Bach. J'avais tout juste commencé le piano, et j'étais électrisé par le fait que quelgu'un puisse jouer tout ÇA sans se gourré, sans la moindre fausse note. Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude et le concerto italien furent LES expériences clé qui ont laissé leurs empreintes sur ma future vie musicale. Ayant courru acheter les 33tours correspondants presque sur le champs, je suis tombé, peut-être par Providence et parce que c'était le meilleur marché à l'époque😀, sur celui de Claudio Arrau et c'est dès lors sa version que j'adore par dessus toutes les autres. th-cam.com/video/jN_corqaqgY/w-d-xo.html
@@mikedaniels3009 Merci de partager :) J'ai découvert Brendel quand mes parents m'ont offert l'une de ses intégrales des sonates de Beethoven (ma prof de piano en avait marre de m'entendre cogner sur le piano et elle a glissé à ma mère que je ferais bien d'écouter Brendel). Et par la même occasion, je suis tombé amoureux de la musique de Beethoven, qui me semblait alors, très hermétique. J'écoute rarement Brendel sur Liszt, car assez difficile à trouver sur youtube, mais je partage définitivement votre goût des Bénédictions de Dieu dans la solitude par Claudio Arrau ! Je le trouve incroyable dans ce type de répertoire (Vallée d'Obermann, ballade N°2,...).
I have always thought of Brendel as a fine but somewhat staid pianist. But the directness and excitement of this performance blows me away! Who knows how Beethoven thought this strange music should sound, but I think he would be well pleased with this.
I am grateful and privileged to hear and see this. My eyes are older, but it looked as if he was wearing a few of his legendary bandaids on his hard worked fingers.
Have you heard Brendl’s version of Fuer Elise? He makes it sound extraordinarily expressive…
Wonderful, Fantastic, Clever, Beethoven
Molto bella nel nitore di un tocco sopraffino la versione di Brendel. Bravo.
Brendel plays the piece on a manner, in which he engages a great clarity. I have heard now different interpretations of the Hammerklavier (Giliels, Richter Aschkenasy, Sokolov, Kempff) and I think that I prefer the controlled and well-thought interpretation of Brendel.
Joseph Lorenz this is the best version of this piece IMO. Brendel has the right tempo for the magnificent first movement, and the lyrical, singing tone of the piano comes out so beautifully in the secondary theme.
Some performers take the tempo of this movement too fast and it ends up sounding unpleasant and discordant. I think the composer would have approved of Brendel's pace.
Without a doubt one of the finest recordings of any pianists performing the the Beethoven Opus 29 Hammerklavier riviling that of Clado Arau for artistic purity and intellectual interpretation.
How fortunate we are to live at a time when we can have a recording of such a performance as this one. Even if it were a 78 with some surface noise, Brendel's inspired playing would still have come through.
I can never hear enough of Alfred Brendel. I also love him and his playing.
maravillosa versión!!!!!! de lo mejor para Beethoven y Schubert...
Alfred Brendel pertence ao seleto grupo dos pianistas que sabem tirar o melhor mel das sonatas Beethovianas
🎹
wonderful
Brendel himself was very happy with this performance
I didn't know but I think I guess why. For me, it is well above the other versions recorded, for both Brendel and all other pianists ( particulary the last movement^^).
Arnaud Stigliani you probably should listen to sokolov plays it .. he bangs it.. brendel..
Alon Ostrun Actually I did. Maybe 20 times, but i do not agree with you. Today I regret to have written that Brendel's version is well above the other versions. I think I like almost as well Backauss, Richter, or Yuja Wang's ones. And if I have listened to sokolov version a great amount of time, that is because I found it quite fascinating at first. No one plays each note and each trill as precisely as he does, for example. But I have now the feeling that sokolov wanted his rendition so clean that he missed the point of the sonata (I don't mean I have a better understanding of the piece than him but I don't like his choices at all) . He plays the fuga in the same way than a piece of Bach, whereas the piece says all the violence of Beethoven's feelings ! For example, the sforzandi, yet omnipresent in the score are simply ignored, and this is the same for staccato notes. The way he uses the pedal remove all edges of the the piece. And there is the tempo, so slow... I still do not know if he wanted to do a Bach like interpretation or if he was afraid of missplaying something...
Arnaud Stigliani Yujia's live TH-cam version is unbalanced, gets out of control. I like this Brendel's.
This performance is so lyrical and expressive throughout. The first movement is the best ever, and somewhere the composer must be smiling
別人彈奏這首曲子，率多金戈鐵馬、一片殺伐之聲；但在Brendel手下，卻似多出一股溫柔甜美。難道是我的錯覺？不過，我喜歡！
Absolutely wonderfully played by Brendel. The hellish fugue is too fast to my taste, maybe it is for the better like this. In my opinion, this is Beethoven's last sonata - you can practically hear Beethoven's brain unravel, the genius reaches a climax here, the last three sonatas are also wonderful, but they represent the final coda of the development.
Finally someone played the culmination of the first movement from 06:40 right
Very pleasant
34:54 Brendel plays the first fugue in too slow 5'46 minutes instead of the prescripted 4'52 minutes (144 Mälzel a crotchet)
Please listen to Gulda live performance of 1970 (4'49 minutes), HJ Lim (4'46 minutes), Laetitia Hahn (4'34 minutes) and Stephan Beus (4'33 minutes).
Brendel lamentated always that nobody even being the devil himself could manage Beethoven's speed in op.106.
Now you have the possibilitiy to become acquainted with "superdevils", who overdo that speed and demonstrate the real fiery revolutionary Beethoven!
37:13 what beethoven wanted to do
Gilels inoubliable
Émile Grigorévitch était l'humilité même : un auditeur enthousiaste le félicitait un jour pour son interprétation ; il lui répondit 'Ah, si vous entendiez Richter !...'
Il est certain qu'il approuverait cette superbe interprétation d'Alfre Brendel.
Du reste, comment comparer deux artistes ? Cela relève de la pure subjectivité.
Brendel was obsessed with setting down great live recordings. One would have thought it is possible to edit from several performances to get a good recording. Alas, Brendel live was often tense, resulting in unpolished performances. There might be more continuity and unity, but at the expense of repose and variety. I have listened to two live Hammerklaviers by him and really think that in the studio, he was better. Artists lose objectivity in the quest for perfection, which is usually elusive. In his retirement, he should record one movement at a time and get it to his satisfaction before it is set as a permanent record of his art.
Without comments before?
Mama, there goes that man
Highly analytical/intellectual version. Just a little too extrovert..
Bernardbel I believe he plays it like that because it's a live performance for a large audience.
Too Extrovert? Really? Would it not be extrovert in that it is the most personal, visceral and tragic outcry the composer ever voiced for any instrument in his entire output. To keep the sonata under wraps is to shove it back into the 18th century and rework it with manners rather than terror & rage. The heartbreak alone spills over into the world, and Brendel, a careful and circumspect poet, understands both sides of tragedy. Is Lear too extrovert?
3:33 ! 777 16:54 !
0:12
Alberto Sanna
similar to Yuja's interpretation
How many ears do you lack !??
the only good fugue recording. Still a tad too fast though
Probably too fast, yes, although his metronome markings are customarily fast.... As Brendel said. . "Too quick to have time to achieve total consice entepritation" .. Brian
see wim winters authentic sound
And where is lecture?
This is Schubert in Beethoven
Sound of piano 🎹 indeed like orchestra...
just listen