Alfred Brendel

Alfred Brendel, born in 1931, Austrian English pianist, known for his fastidious and searching interpretations of works by German composer Ludwig van Beethoven, Austrian composer Franz Schubert, and Hungarian-born composer Franz Liszt. Brendel was born in Weisenberg, Moravia (now part of the Czech Republic), and three years later moved with his family to Yugoslavia. He began studying piano in Zagreb at the age of six and attended the Graz Conservatory in Austria during his teens, where he studied composition as well as piano. He also attended master classes given by pianists Eduard Steuermann and Edwin Fischer.

Brendel’s career began to take off after he won a prize at the Busoni Competition in Bolzano, Italy, in 1949. Recordings of the Beethoven and Schubert piano sonatas established his international reputation. He has also toured extensively, performing in solo recitals and with major orchestras in Europe, North America, and Japan. He moved to London, England, in 1972.

Brendel is admired for the breadth of his repertory, which ranges from 17th-century works by German composer Johann Sebastian Bach to 20th-century compositions by Austrian-born Arnold Schoenberg. However, he is most renowned as an interpreter of the great classical and early romantic composers, especially Beethoven (whose complete sonatas he has recorded three times), Schubert, and Liszt. He also recorded the complete sonatas of Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in the early 1990s.

Brendel’s playing style is spontaneous and intuitive, responding to the circumstance of the moment, while at the same time being deeply thought out to the extent sometimes of seeming withdrawn. He is also a man of considerable intellect and the author of Musical Thoughts and Afterthoughts (1976), Music Sounded Out (1990), Alfred Brendel on Music: Collected Essays (2000), and several volumes of poetry. In the collection of dialogues, Me of All People: Alfred Brendel in Conversation With Martin Meyer (2002), Brendel discusses his life and music.