Alfred Brendel

Music, Sense and Nonsense (eBook, ePUB)

Collected Essays and Lectures

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

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 the music lover alike.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: The Robson Press
• Seitenzahl: 464
• Erscheinungstermin: 18. August 2015
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9781849549615
• Artikelnr.: 43452277

Autorenporträt

Alfred Brendel studied piano and composition in Zagreb and Graz, completing his piano studies with Edwin Fischer, Paul Baumgartner and Eduard Steuermann. For sixty years he enjoyed a distinguished international career, concentrating on the works of central European composers, performing regularly with the world's leading orchestras and conductors. His final concert appearance was with the Vienna Philharmonic on 18 December 2008, which was voted one of the 100 greatest cultural moments of the decade by the Daily Telegraph. Besides music, literature has remained Brendel's foremost interest and second occupation. As well as three volumes of collected essays, there are also multiple collections of poems, two of which, One Finger Too Many and Cursing Bagels, appeared in the Faber Poetry Series. A bilingual edition of collected poems, Playing the Human Game, was published in 2010. Brendel continues to give lectures, poetry readings and masterclasses throughout the world and, having lived in Vienna for twenty years, has made his home in London since 1970.

Inhaltsangabe

Preface ix
MOZART
A Mozart Player Gives Himself Advice 1
Minor Mozart: In Defence of His Solo Works 8
BEETHOVEN
Notes on a Complete Recording of Beethoven's Piano Works 15
Werktreue - An Afterthought 29
Form and Psychology in Beethoven's Piano Sonatas 41
The Process of Foreshortening in the First Movement of Beethoven's Sonata
Op. 2, No. 1 56
Musical Character(s) in Beethoven's Piano Sonatas 63
Beethoven's New Style 75
Must Classical Music Be Entirely Serious?: I The Sublime in Reverse 85
Must Classical Music Be Entirely Serious?: II Beethoven's Diabelli
Variations 106
The Text and Its Guardians: Notes on Beethoven's Piano Concertos 119
SCHUBERT
Schubert's Piano Sonatas, 1822-28 125
Schubert's Last Sonatas 143
A Footnote on the Playing of Schubert's Four-Hand Works 201
Testing the Grown-Up Player: Schumann's Kinderszenen 203
THEME AND VARIATIONS
Schumann and Beethoven 213
From Mozart to Brahms 216
LISZT
Liszt Misunderstood 219
Liszt and the Piano Circus - An Afterthought 224
The Noble Liszt 227
Liszt's Années de pèlerinage I and II 237
Liszt's B Minor Sonata 243
Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsodies 249
Liszt's Bitterness of Heart 252
Liszt's Piano Playing 257
Turning the Piano into an Orchestra: Liszt's Transcriptions and Paraphrases
260
Fidelity to Liszt's Letter? 266
BUSONI
A Peculiar Serenity: On the Thirtieth Anniversary of Busoni's Death, 1954
271
Arlecchino and Doktor Faust: On the Centenary of Busoni's Birth, 1966 277
Afterthoughts on Busoni 280
Superhuman Frailty: On Busoni's Doktor Faust 282
On Playing Schoenberg's Piano Concerto 288
PERFORMANCE, PROGRAMMES, RECORDING
Wilhelm Furtwängler 299
Edwin Fischer: Remembering My Teacher 305
Afterthoughts on Edwin Fischer 309
Remembering Katja Andy 312
Coping with Pianos 316
A Lifetime of Recording 326
A Case for Live Recordings 334
On Recitals and Programmes 340
Hearing 348
On Some Performance Habits 350
Music Life in Flux 358
Audacious Chamber Music I - Schubert's String Quartet in G Major 363
Audacious Chamber Music II - Beethoven's 'Grosse Fuge' and the Quartet Op.
130 367
Children's Orchestra 371
Farewell to the Concert Stage 373
From 'Analysis' to 'Zubiaurre': A Review of the New Grove Dictionary of
Music and Musicians, 1981 374
CONVERSATIONS
Talking to Brendel (with Jeremy Siepmann) 379
Bach and the Piano (with Terry Snow) 387
On Schnabel and Interpretation (with Konrad Wolff) 392
Afterthoughts on Life and Art (with Martin Meyer) 410
Me, Myself and I 425
Thanking the Critics 428
On Humour, Sense and Nonsense 431
Select Bibliography 437
Acknowledgements 443
Index 447