what do you think of brendel?

p.s. what is he playing in the beginning of this movie?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Q2WRzmSf_PA

I never heard him play. I heard of him and his scary-ly good Beethoven sonatas.

I've only got recordings of him playing a Beethoven Sonata, and the Schubert Improptus. And yes, he is scarily good. His touch is so light, but can also be very very strong. Probably the best dynamics I have heard in a pianist.

P.S.: Are you the first person who commented on that video? I believe it was a Schubert Impromptu, the one in G flat major, which is also called "G major" because the publisher put it up a semitone to make it easier.

yeah that's me.

which publisher transcribed it he's crazy

A lot of editions offer the G major version as an alternative. Probably makes good sense, the impromptus are exceptionally popular with amateur pianists, and the signature of G flat with 6 accidentals scares many people away. It would not surprise me if Schubert himself already thought of that and provided the alternative. It's not a big deal, though it loses some of its dark and warm timbre in G major.

I heard a lot of Brendel's performances, and I own some of them. He is good as a piano player, but I don't find him that good as a music player, if you know what I mean. His interpretations of Beethoven's sonatas are not rational, sometimes he slows the tempo too much, and the use of pedal makes no sense. For example, the very beging of Waldstein sonata, first movement - the line of c major chords, which are supposed to be played staccato, Brendel plays some of them fine, but after a few chords he presses the pedal and the entire sound appears to be blury, and looses Beethoven's intention, as well it doesn't sound good.

Also, some of bagatelles are not that brilliant, specially Für Elise.


But, yes he is a good piano player, not considering his Beethoven.

I heard him play a recital about 20 years ago, he played Schubert's Wanderer Fantasy and Funerailles of Liszt. One of the worst recitals by a prominent pianist I've ever attended. Bashing, overpedaling, UGLY SOUND . Don't remember how accurate he was, I was too focused on the ugliness of the whole thing. Don't remember what else he played, I've blocked it out.

That said I like some of his recordings (particularly Schubert Impromptus for Vox Turnabout, 1972 or 73) but I would rather hear Richter, Schnabel or Arrau play Beethoven and Schubert on record. But I guess he's doing something right, a lot of people love him. I guess at the core he's "musical", but his exterior could use some grooming imo. Maybe I heard him on a bad day, or he has improved. Or perhaps he is a product of brilliant recording engineering.
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I heard Brendel for the first time about a week ago. Is it ok for me to say that he makes me look like a deaf, blind, amputee? He is up on my top players next to Richter and Gilels.

Could it be that Brendel is much more respected in Europe than in the US?

Here all people say Brendel is great and his concert are always sold out months before they start. In the US people do say Brendel is great, but they are always talking about that he's underrated, from which I can conclude that European people like Brendel more than Americans.

Same story with Pollini, though not as far going as Brendel.

Also, some European people seem to hate Russians, because they claim that they do not respect the score and just play in the way they want. There was a Russian teacher here this week and she taught a student to play an octave where the score indicates one note, to do "tricks" with the pedal, etc.
But maybe I'm wrong.

I know this is an old topic, but I just saw Brendel perform last night. He played a Mozart concerto, the Concerto No. 17 in G-Major. I have never seen him play before, but last night he was very good. His touch was light as a feather and his tone, well, I'm not sure if it was where I was sitting, but at times I almost wished for more volume. Symphony Hall in Chicago has had trouble with accoustics in the past and even though they did a major renovation several years ago, it still is not great. But the orchestra was fine, and he was fine when he was on his own, but when playing together, I couldn't always hear him. I didn't hear any slips, and he used the damper pedal throughout the piece, which I always thought that pianist don't use pedal on Mozart or just a little if any. I was glad to see he was using the pedal, because I'm practicing Mozart right now and want to use the pedal but have been restricting it.
Brendal is a lot older than I thought, too. He sure doesn't look like his pictures. I expected to see a man who looks kind of like Woody Allen, but Brendel is all white/gray and stands hunched over a bit.