The genius of Brendel

About Brendel a lot can be said. I’ve always been a fan. His subtleties are very emotional to me, while for others his playing might seem too distant.

When we listen to this execution of Beethoven op 28 “Pastorale” I am again moved by his ‘micro-phrasing’. The way he phrases with very nuanced stretching and compressing time without ever going overboard. It’s never about him. The score is the center, or rather, the music itself, which is presented through the sheet music. What can we learn from this performance? That playing the music as it is written on the page is enough. And that it is important to really grasp that music, to go deep. There is more on the paper than just those notes and markings. It’s not as much that we have to learn about Beethoven and his time, but to really understand the music as it was notated by Beethoven. To try to understand what was going on in his head when he was writing it down. Brendel does this.There’s so much fantasy and creativity in this recording. The way he plays with tension and release; soft and loud; dissonance and consonance; directions that go up and down, left and right; flowing and holding back time; festive and melancholic athmospheres; opposing characters in general. It’s too much too to even try to describe. Listen to this recording and discover what Brendel; is doing. Learn about organic phrasing, being yourself while not letting it be about you…