#Alfred Brendel

[thedaysofdisorder]

Schubert Impromptu Op 90 No 3 D 899 G flat major - Alfred Brendel

[desertosullaterra]

everyone seems to hate Brendel and I will never fully understand why.

[headlessandhellbent]

p!atd is officially over... I might be 28 and not thriving at all but this saddens me. I remember afycso coming OUT and blowing up... everyone putting their name!at the disco... Bruh. I'm old. It's like my childhood is officially over.

[unjustlyunread]

Mendelssohn's Variations sérieuses, op. 54 played by Brendel

("The work was written as part of a campaign to raise funds for the erection of a large bronze statue of Ludwig van Beethoven in his home town of Bonn.")

[ronnydeschepper]

Haruki Murakami wordt 75...

De naar ik vermoed populairste schrijver van het moment wereldwijd, de Japanner Haruki Murakami, viert vandaag zijn ste verjaardag. Continue reading Untitled

[kitaston]

Alfred Brendel

Austrian classical pianist

[twafordizzy]

Als er muziek in het schrijven zit

In Mozart voor schrijvers gaat Oek de Jong (1952) op zoek naar het muzikale aspect van de roman. Wat blijkt? Muziek speelt een rol bij het totstandkomen van de verhalen die De Jong schrijft. De Jong citeert Milan Kundera: Het componeren van een roman bestaat uit het naast elkaar plaatsen van verschillende emotionele ruimtes. De Jong zelf vult aan: Het naast elkaar plaatsen van emotionele ruimtes…

[onenakedfarmer]

Currently Playing

Arnold Schoenberg CHAMBER SYMPHONY NO. 1, OP. 9 CONCERTO FOR PIANO AND ORCHESTRA, OP. 42 CHAMBER SYMPHONY NO. 2, OP. 28

Michael Gielen SWF-Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden

Alfred Brendel, Piano

[aschenblumen]

Arnold Schoenberg, Piano concerto op. 42. Rafael Kubelik, director Alfred Brendel, piano

[princesssarisa]

Yesterday I shared links to complete filmed performances available free on YouTube of the top 10 most frequently performed operas. While I'm at it, here are links to performances of the next top 10 most popular operas, all with English subtitles.

Cosí Fan Tutte

Théâtre du Châtelet, 1992 (Amanda Roocroft, Rosa Mannion, Rainer Trost, Rodney Gilfry, Eiran James, Claudio Nicolai; staged and conducted by John Eliot Gardiner)

L'Elisir d'Amore

Vienna State Opera, 2005 (Rolando Villazón, Anna Netrebko, Leo Nucci, Ildebrando d'Arcangelo; staged by Otto Schenk; conducted by Alfred Eschwé)

Aida

San Francisco Opera, 2010 (Micaela Carosi, Marcello Giordani, Dolora Zajick, Marco Vratogna, Hao Jiang Tian; staged by Jo Davies; conducted by Nicola Lusotti)

Hänsel & Gretel

Studio film, 1981 (Brigitte Fassbaender, Edita Gruberova, Sena Jurinac, Hermann Prey; directed by August Everding; conducted by Georg Solti)

Turandot

Opera Hong Kong, 2018 (Oksana Dyka, Alfred Kim, Valeria Sepe; staged by Warren Mok; conducted by Paolo Olmi)

Die Fledermaus

Bavarian State Opera, 1987 (Eberhard Wächter, Pamela Coburn, Wolfgang Brendel, Janet Perry, Brigitte Fassbaender; staged by Otto Schenk; conducted by Carlos Kleiber)

Nabucco

St. Margarethen Opera Festival, 2007 (Igor Morosow, Gabriella Morigi, Elizabeth Kulman, Bruno Riberio, Simon Yang; staged by Robert Herzl; conducted by Ernst Märzendorfer)

Eugene Onegin

Kirov Opera, 1984 (Sergei Leiferkus, Tatiana Novikova, Yuri Marusin, Larissa Diadkova; staged and conducted by Yuri Temirkanov)

Lucia di Lammermoor

Studio film, 1971 (Anna Moffo, Lajos Kozma, Giulio Fioravanti, Paolo Washington; directed by Mario Lanfranchi; conducted by Carlo Felice Cillario)

Paglacci

Lirica Italiana at the Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, 1961; Mario del Monaco, Gabriella Tucci, Aldo Protti, Attilio D'Orazzi; conducted by Giuseppe Morelli)

[gnossienne]

A glance at the scope and wealth of piano literature makes us realise: this instrument works wonders. But the piano must be an instrument, not a fetish. It serves a purpose. Without the music, it’s a piece of furniture with black and white teeth. A violin is, and stays, a violin. The piano is an object of transformation. It permits, if the pianist so desires, the suggestion of the singing voice, the timbres of other instruments, of the orchestra. It might even conjure up the rainbow or the spheres. This propensity for metamorphosis, this alchemy, is our supreme privilege.

An A-Z of the piano: Alfred Brendel's notes from the concert hall

[ar-mah]

،

الوجه يُوهِمنا إننا نعرف نفسنا، يُوهمنا إنّه عندنا نَفْس من الأساس، نَفْس تستمدّ فرادتها من فرادة الوجه، وثباتها من ثباته. أوه، إيوة الأبعاد هذي تخصّني، أنا فلان وجاي من هناك، وعندي أشياء كثير لازم تنعمل عشان أقدر أحافظ على اتّساق وجهي. الغيمة إلّي فوقنا هذي، بعد لحظات حتكون غيمة جديدة ولها شكل ثاني، حتتفرّد حتى عن نفسها، عارفة ليش؟ لأن ما لها وجه، لأنّها تَشَكُّل.

[percocet]

Omg would u be willing to give like piano classical music recs? I just love how pianos sound but I don't know much classical music :(

HI. YES. i feel like i've been waiting for this moment all my life.

so first thing to note is that "classical music" as a genre, as the general public thinks about it, covers like. the 1600s to early 1900s. it's like saying mcr and golden era broadway music are the same genre, which drives me up the wall some days but i've also accepted it as like. general public insistence that all music composed before 1910 is somehow stuffy and elitist to listen to. ANYWAY rant aside this is all to say that the sound and style is going to differ a lot!

without further ado, here's my Certified Fresh™ piano recs for beginners <3

the famous composers you should probably listen to

rachmaninoff - piano concerto no. 2 in c minor. evgeny kissin (<333) has like thee recording ever of this (linked). it's the most famous piano concerto in the world. i've been playing this baby since i was 15 and literally every day i learn something new about it. gift that keeps giving!! and if you like this, then i'd also take a gander at the rhapsody on a theme of paganini, which is a whole piano concerto that's like theme and variations on the melody from the most famous paganini violin caprice (no. 24).

chopin - ballade no. 1 in g minor. krystian zimerman (linked) has probably the most solid recording, but i'm rlly partial to yundi li's interpretation! seong-jin cho is also incredibly impressive, i've seen him twice and his work blows me away... all of chopin's music is quintessential piano listening imo; his collection of waltzes, nocturnes, and études especially are foundational learning material! he's my fav composer of all time <3 (side note: arthur rubinstein is known as The chopin performer, but any of the people i listed will do a great job if you're looking on youtube on spotify for a version to listen to)

liszt - transcendental étude no. 12 "chasse-neige". and if you have time then wough ALL of the transcendental études and listen in order. i don't really like liszt but i worship at the feet of daniil trifonov's album i'm so serious. also gotta plug that i saw him perform live too and he is like the second coming of christ to me. my absolute favourite pianist atm.

beethoven - sonata no. 14 "moonlight". while we're in that fob mood! everybody knows the first movement but rarely do people play it well tbh 💀 the second and third movements are also very famous but they seem to fit on the second tier of the classical music iceberg, so i'll rec it anyway. harder to say who my fav beethoven performers are.. he has the most difficult repertoire for a reason! maybe claudio arrau or alfred brendel (linked), daniel barenboim for more modern recordings (and a complete set of sonatas) but he's not The best..

mozart - fantasia in d minor. sigh. so i'm not the biggest mozart fan, admittedly. but he's got an incomparable place in history, so here we are! this is probably one of the more underrated famous pieces (in comparison to like the turkish march or whatever). linked is trifonov again, but i would rec seong-jin cho's mozart album too, it's solid all around.

bach - partita no. 2 in c minor. probably the most dramatic and accessible of his partitas. you have probably heard of the well-tempered clavier at some point in your life, which is his collection of preludes and fugues! those are worth listening to if you're ever in the baroque mood. i'm so serious when i say bach's music is god to me. not the easiest listening, but worth it tbh... anyway. martha argerich (linked) is goated and one of my main inspirations in music. (and if you find yourself liking her, i'd rec her astor piazzolla interpretations like tres minutos con la realidad, great argentinian music by great argentinian musicians!)

stuff that goes so fucking ham i can only describe it as the closest humanity will ever touch divinity

godowsky - passacaglia. based off schubert's unfinished symphony but that's not super important all you need to know is that it's 20 minutes of insanity

liszt - erlkönig. this is like a veritable nightmare, musically. it's based on schubert's erlkönig and it's absolute hell. holy shit. it's so good. yuja wang (linked) is superhuman

bach (transcribed by ferruccio busoni) - partita no 2. in d minor. this partita was composed for the violin but naturally someone had to put it on the piano and make it go harder than it already does. literally a religious experience, ofc evgeny kissin had to do it to 'em

ravel (transcribed by beatrice rana) - la valse. beatrice rana is so goated, holy shit. this waltz is also musically difficult, but she just knocks it out of the park. every time i listen to this i get chills, esp towards the end. definitely worth watching as well as listening to, she's electric with it

liszt - mephisto waltz. did i say i didn't like liszt already? i feel like liszt is overrepresented here. liszt enjoyers come get your food ig. khatia buniatishvili is just crazy impressive, she's just so effortlessly virtuosic and i live in awe of her work.

this got kinda long but i think it's more bc i can't shut up.. anyway! hope you enjoy!! let me know what you think if you listen to any of this!

[backtothepiano]

A Moment with Schubert

04/01/2023

Schubert seems to condense everything music offers in just a few measures. Elegance is the word that springs to mind.

Somewhere in history—specifically in the history of music—amongst giants like Beethoven and Mozart, there dwells a composer named Franz Schubert.

Often cited in the encyclopedia as belonging to the late classical period, I tend to think that Schubert has one foot in the classical and the other in the romantic, still at times he seems to have both feet firmly grounded on romanticism. Only by immersing oneself in his music can one utterly understand.

Schubert is a fascinating character: anonymous to the public of his time, he was loved by a select group of friends who provided him with support.

A prolific composer, Schubert wrote tirelessly, but fell short in other areas of his life. Unsurprisingly, his financial situation was catastrophic, a common pattern among many great artists throughout history.

To help the poor genius, music-loving friends supported him and provided him with housing; Schubert repaid them with nightly soirées, affectionately dubbed “Schubertiades,” masterfully portrayed in Julius Schimidt’s painting.

-

I remember the late Gilberto Tinetti in his excellent program “Pianíssimo” on Brazilian Rádio Cultura. Tinetti described Schubert’s daily cycle was as follows: at night, he played songs and improvised with new ideas; the next morning, he wrote down the themes from the night before; in the afternoon, he strolled in parks and read outdoors.

For Schubert, composing was so commonplace and natural that, careless with the works scribbled on lined paper, now and then he lost them in his wanderings between parks and taverns in Vienna.

My passion for Schubert was ignited when I first heard anthological recordings by Alfred Brendel, Maria João Pires, and Vladimir Sokolov on Radio Cultura. They brought to life Schubert’s Moments Musicaux, Impromptus, and the sonatas heavily influenced by Beethoven—a composer that Schubert admired most—but infused with their own character and color.

During my study cycle between 2006 and 2009, I practiced one of the Impromptus. Now, it was about time to explore the Moments Musicaux, which I admire for its rare combination of clarity, simplicity, and lyricism. The Moment in C Major is a particularly perfect example. Its simple opening begins with an airy melodic line that later reappears in a graceful counterpoint section and culminates in a resounding succession of soaring chords. Schubert seems to condense everything music offers in just a few measures. In trying to describe his style, elegance is the word that springs to mind.

During my studies, I aimed for a classical technique in my fingers and a romantic interpretation in my heart. Inspired by Brendel and Jõao Pires, I embarked on my humble rendition, working to refine my dynamic control to meet the demands of the musical material. The Yamaha U1J provided invaluable support with its greater range and fuller sound compared to my old Schneider.

Recording this piece was an enchanting experience, and I look forward to further exploring Schubert’s repertoire.

--

Recorded in Curitiba, in March 2023, on the Yamaha U1J piano with a Shure MV88 microphone.

[demoura]

DIA 29 DE JUNHO DE 2024 : ALFRED BRENDEL A TOCAR LISZT COM ADESIVOS NOS DEDOS ; O FACEBOOK DE YVETTE CENTENO E CREME DE ABÓBORA NO ROBOT PARA O JANTAR : tenho duas maneiras de ouvir música - a que escolho nos meus CD’s no Spotify ou no IDAGIO e que escuto repetidamente dias a fio e a “acidental “ reencontros , surpresas no MEZZO . Foi o que sucedeu com o a transmissão das « Années de Pèlerinages 2 « por Alfred Brendel num registo de 1986 . Eu que sou fanático de Liszt tenho algures o disco da Philips .A gravação é para mim, é uma das melhores do pianista. Brendel adota uma abordagem geralmente reservada para Liszt, mas que funciona graças à musicalidade do seu virtuosismo . Os três Sonnetto del Petrarca têm que estar entre as melhores obras de Liszt e formam a peça central das Années italianas, fundindo de certa forma a paixão de Petrarca com a atmosfera da estufa da música romântica . Brendel toca-os de maneira contida mas poética . Embora eu não goste tanto da Sonata de Dante, a interpretação de Brendel tira dela o máximo proveito . As outras peças do ciclo são tocadas de forma suave e muito bela. Continua a incomodar-me visualmente o hábito de Alfred Brendel proteger as pontas dos dedos com adesivos !. Yvette Centeno professora catedrática jubilada , escritora notável e tradutora de Shakespeare, Goethe, Stendhal, Brecht, Celan e Fassbinder tem uma intervenção criativa no Facebook . - um pequeno diário construído sobre o diálogo que mantém com a sua empregada moçambicana Janete - simplesmente delicioso e imperdível ! . Finalmente eu que não tenho empregada diáriamente e trabalho muito preparei para o jantar ,no robot ,inspirado no chefe Michehelin Henrique Sá Pessoa ,uma sopa de 3 ingredientes sem batata - um creme de abóbora : 600 gramas de abóbora, 60 gramas de cebola , 1 colher de sopa de pó de caril, 1 cubo de caldo de galinha e 450 ml de leite magro . ; . Enfeita com sementes de sésamo tostadas . Ficou excelente .