Five-star reviews for Brendel memorial concert

The Musical Celebration of Alfred Brendel held at London's Barbican Centre on 5 January, on what would have been Brendel's 95th birthday, has won five-star reviews.

Sir Simon Rattle conducted an orchestra (‘The Orchestra of EnBrendelment’) made up of Brendel’s musical friends. Soloists included his son Adrian Brendel playing Liszt and joining the Takács Quartet in Schubert, Till Fellner and Paul Lewis performing Schubert, and, to end the evening, Paul Lewis performing Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto. Other performers included Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Lisa Batiashvili, Dame Imogen Cooper, Lucy Crowe, Tim Horton, Sir András Schiff and Dame Harriet Walter, in a programme that represented Brendel’s many interests and sense of humour.

‘Alfred Brendel – pianist, poet, painter, philosopher and, until his death last June, one of the most revered musicians on the planet – deserved a celebration as many-splendoured as his own life. He certainly got one here. On what would have been his 95th birthday, practically the whole British musical world gathered at the Barbican, either on stage or in the audience, for an epic three and a half hours of music-making. It encompassed tenderness and grandeur, the sublime and the surreal... The cellist Adrian Brendel paid homage to his father’s renowned performances of Liszt in a beautifully poignant account of that composer’s Elegie No 2 with Tim Horton on the piano. He also joined the magnificent Takács Quartet in a performance of the slow movement from Schubert’s Quintet in C that must have touched every soul in the hall... All the musicians gave their services to raise money for the Alfred Brendel Young Musicians Trust. So it was fitting that the final soloist was Paul Lewis, the British pianist who was mentored by Brendel and whose unshowy, deeply considered interpretations clearly reflect Brendel’s influence. With Rattle galvanising the orchestra, Lewis gave a performance of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No 3 full of poetry and fire. Nothing can replace the great man, but his legacy lives on.’

The Times – ★★★★★

‘Given the respect in which he was held over a career lasting more than half a century, it was perhaps not so difficult to persuade several dozen top-calibre musicians to give their services in aid of the Alfred Brendel Young Musicians Trust, which supports aspiring pianists... The tripartite programme, a mixture of the sublime and the quirky, would doubtless have delighted Brendel, known for his idiosyncratic sense of humour... [Adrian Brendel] also gave a soul-searching rendering, with Tim Horton, of Liszt’s introspective, little-known Elegie No. 2 for cello and piano. All were performances of the highest quality, as was that of Till Fellner and Paul Lewis in a Schubert piano duet... A complete work to end: Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto in C minor, played exquisitely by Lewis with Rattle once again conjuring magic from his elite squad. Over it all hovered the spirit of Brendel, one felt, smiling benevolently, if wryly, at the fuss made on his behalf.’

Evening Standard – ★★★★★

‘Over three and a half hours, they gave us not just dozens of wonderful performances but summoned up a portrait of the Austrian pianist’s musical world... It was fitting, then, that Rattle should launch the evening by leading the specially assembled “Orchestra of Brendelment” in a performance of the Representation of Chaos that begins Haydn’s oratorio The Creation. After that deep, dark yearning for order came a stream of performances in which order was achieved, in perfect balance with passion... Fittingly, the best performances of Liszt’s tenderly understated 2nd Elegie and the rapt slow movement of Schubert’s String Quintet had Brendel’s cellist son Adrian at their core.’

The Telegraph – ★★★★★

‘Pianist, poet and polymath, at once one of music’s most rigorous intellectuals and most mischievous minds – Alfred Brendel, who died in June, was an artist of fruitful contradictions. This marathon concert, on what would have been his 95th birthday, celebrated them with warm affection... Tim Horton duetted with Brendel’s cellist son Adrian in an intensely felt performance of Liszt’s Elégie No 2, and Till Fellner and Paul Lewis teamed up for Schubert’s A minor Allegro, D947... For many, though, the evening’s highlight will have been the slow movement from Schubert’s C major Quintet, played by the Takács Quartet plus Adrian Brendel. It’s a piece in which there’s a sense that the melody is somehow missing, and it speaks sweetly but powerfully not only of absence, but of acceptance and thankfulness too. Here it said all those things eloquently, and more.’

The Guardian

‘As many friends, colleagues and former students participated as could reasonably be crammed into one evening, and countless more were among the capacity audience. Pianists, naturally, were out in force... Wit bubbled up throughout the evening, from the Dadaesque appearance of a brass band dressed as royal guardsmen in bearskin hats playing a mad march by Mauricio Kagel, to a gleeful game of swap the unintentionally recalcitrant piano stool, in which Paul Lewis, Till Fellner, Tim Horton and Aimard cheerfully engaged... The Takács Quartet played Haydn, and were joined by Brendel Jr for the slow movement of Schubert’s Quintet in C, ineffable even without its surrounding movements. Fellner and Lewis gave us a matchless Schubert duet. András Schiff flew in specially to play Bach. The evening ended with a complete, vigorous performance of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No 3, with Lewis as soloist. His mix of freedom, sensitivity and discipline honoured the Brendel tradition. This was a joyous tribute.’

The Observer

‘It was a chance for friends and colleagues to pay tribute in a wide-ranging program celebrating the breadth of his interests and his ongoing influence onsome of the industry’s most admired musicians. And what a starry line-up it was... Brendel junior joined [the Takács Quartet] as extra cellist for the great “Adagio” from Schubert’s String Quintet. Brisk, as if determined not to wallow in sentiment, and with tensile playing that was almost modernist, Brendel senior would doubtless have approved. Adrian Brendel then gave a lovely account of Liszt’s forward-thinking Elegie No. 2 with Tim Horton’s rippling piano accompaniment revealing the music’s visionary impressionism... The evening concluded with Lewis as poetic protagonist in a spectacular account of Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto. Rattle’s elastic phrasing ensured everything came up fresh and new, while Lewis emerged as very much his former teacher’s heir in an urgent, multihued account of the solo part. If there was a testament to the late, lamented master, it was their way with the deeply felt, bittersweet central movement.’

Musical America
 

The concert was co-produced by Maestro Arts and the Barbican, with proceeds going to Alfred Brendel Young Musician’s Trust.