Music, Sense and Nonsense: Collected Essays and Lectures

by Alfred Brendel

Overview

The definitive collection of A lfred Brendel ’s award-winning writings and es- says, Music, Sense and Nonsense combines all 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, perfor- mance 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 most outstanding musicians of the twentieth centur y.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781785902673
Publisher:	Biteback Publishing, Ltd.
Publication date:	08/21/2018
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	464
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.70(h) x 1.40(d)
Age Range:	12 Years

About the Author

Alfred Brendel is known for his recordings, international concert appearances and writings. He was awarded an honorary knighthood in 1989.

Table of Contents

Contents 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 Annees de pelerinage 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 Furtwangler 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

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

The mix of thoughtfulness and brilliance that irradiates his performances infuses these spirited essays. Susan Sontag

Alfred Brendel is among the most literate and verbally compelling, as well as thoughtful, of living pianists, constantly jogging received opinions and exciting argument. William Mann, The Times

Music, Sense and Nonsense includes a vivid reflection on a long musical life, but at its heart is a series of engrossing dissections of the piano music of Beethoven, Schubert and Schumann. The Sunday Times

He writes so well that it seems unfair in someone who plays as he does. The Spectator

A blending of the musical and human, historical and personal. It is what gives his writing, like his playing, its sense of excitement and commitment. The Economist

Editorial Reviews

The mix of thoughtfulness and brilliance that irradiates [Brendel's] performances infuses these spirited essays.—Susan Sontag

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 together 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 yields 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 essays are both illuminating and challenging, a treasure for the specialist and the music lover alike.

Alfred Brendel is known for his recordings, international concert appearances and writings. He was awarded an honorary knighthood in 1989.

From the Publisher