Alfred Brendel

about

Alfred Brendel (born January 5, 1931) is an Austrian pianist, born in Czechoslovakia. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest classical pianists of the second half of the 20th century. Brendel was born in Vízmberk, Czechoslovakia, now Loučná nad Desnou Czech Republic, to a non-musical family. They moved to Zagreb when Brendel was six, and later to Graz, where they lived during World War II, towards the end of which the 14 year old Brendel was sent to Yugoslavia to dig trenches. However, he caught frostbite and was taken to hospital. Throughout his childhood, Brendel had occasional piano lessons, but otherwise little formal music education. After the war, Brendel composed music, as well as continuing to play the piano and paint. However, he never had any more formal piano lessons and although he attended masterclasses with Edwin Fischer and Eduard Steuermann, he is largely self-taught. Brendel gave his first public recital in Graz at the age of 17.[1] He called it "The Fugue In Piano Literature", and as well as fugal works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms and Franz Liszt, it included some of Brendel's own compositions. However, he gave up composing shortly after this to concentrate on the piano. In 1949 he won 4th prize in the Ferruccio Busoni Piano Competition in Bolzano, Italy and moved to Vienna the following year. At the age of 21, he made his first record, Sergei Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 5. He went on to make a string of other records, including thr

top songs

albums

Alfred Brendel plays Beethoven: Selected Piano Works

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Beethoven on Piano

Schubert: Piano Quintet "The Trout"

Alfred Brendel: The Farewell Concerts

Alfred Brendel: Steinway Legends

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Klavierkonzerte

Beethoven: Complete Piano Sonatas & Concertos

Schubert: Piano Works 1822-1828

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Schubert: Piano Masterpieces

Mozart: The Great Piano Concertos, Vol.1

Mozart: Favourite Works for Piano

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Classical Chill Out

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