One of my Christmas presents was the above , revised in 2007.
I am already halfway through it, its a great read, particularly if, like me you are into Beethoven and Schubert Sonatas. I heartily recommend it.

(oops, missed the capital C for Collected, but cant edit it now)

Thanks, fsm. On my list.

Thanks f#m...will have to get a copy.

For the record its published by JR books ISBN number is 978 1 906217 01 3
Its £14.99 (430 page paperback)

Actually the title is 'On Music' by Alfred Brendel (his collected essays)

It certainly has very good reviews! Here is one of them:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2007/dec/01/music

Thanks for this recommendation f#m. I had never heard of this book but am now VERY tempted to buy it!!!!

I'm currently reading Richters biography, which is excellent...Brendel is mentioned by the Russian regarding his remarks about Grieg....a composer he likes to have a pop at from time to time. ''God forgive him'' says Richter. Though Brendel is a giant of the piano, his playing does tend to be somewhat didactic, I would rather another famous interpreter of both Schubert and Beethoven, that being Stephen Kovacevich.

An intriguing post. Can you elaborate? Is it Richter or Brendel that likes to have apop at Grieg. Were Brendel's statements complimentary or derogatory? God forgive who - Grieg or Brendel?

Well I just checked the index of his essays, and Grieg isn't mentioned once!

It is in Richters biography, and he was referring to remarks made by Brendel about the composer. Richter had a high regard for Grieg and recorded a famous account of the concerto and many of the Lyric Pieces, I think he also played the Sonata and Ballade..not sure if he recorded them. He was writing about how some pianists are dismissive and miss the point about Grieg because essentially he was a miniaturist and because of his lack of form or larger scale works for piano, also the immediate appeal and folkish element of his compositions are sometimes singled out for criticism or sometimes snobbery. Brendels remark was something like ''music for the chambermaid''... and in another book by Brendel he remarked that Grieg was one of the pioneers of 'Kitsch' (as well as Mendelsohn and some of Liszts' works)... Grieg is one of the composers who is closest to my heart ...I play about 60 of his pieces, and have just finished learning several of his own song transcriptions, including the famous ''I love Thee'' I'm not mad about all his music ie his string sonatas, some of it I'm not into at all, but a great deal of it i love... so I suppose i've always had a little gripe about Brendels words, legendary pianist though he undeniably is. For me Emil Gilels summed it up perfectly : ''Griegs art is that of the mosaic.''

Thanks. MT

(I like Grieg too - but only play 7 of his pieces!)

Yes ,Mad Tom, but many of the pieces are short ones ... ranging in difficulty. add to that i've been working on them, on and off, since i was about 14...and am now 40. There are no Beethoven or Mozart pieces in my repertoire, not one, and just several by Bach, maybe I have to balance things out a little more perhaps, or perhaps try and learn an entire sonata.

To mark his retirement, Alfred Brendel is talking to Charles Hazlewood tonight at 11.20, BBC2, if anyone's interested

Ooh Charles Hazlewood... Thanks skyers.

Radio or TV??

(please say radio, I don't have TV and seem to have missed a lot of good show recently!)

Sorry, Cadence, TV I'm afraid

My claim to fame : I was at junior school with Charles Hazlewood.

You can always catch up on BBC iplayer.

Shame it wasn't on for more than half an hour.

Yes, interesting though. I think he'd fit quite well into here actually, he seemed to have a good sense of the absurd

Yes, quite!

I enjoyed it immensely. Although being interviewed, he was speaking exactly as he did in his essays with which I started this thread. Too true he would be an excellent and distinguished forumite !

He could have the username ABRSM - Alfred Brendel, retired superb musician

Rats. Only yesterday the USB output failed on my eyeTV box


Not in the Netherlands you can't, unless you can get someone to set up a Web proxy for you in the UK

Is that a hint?