Pretzel, Alfred

Brendel’s childhood and adolescence took place in Zagreb and then in Graz , at the end of World War II he was sent to digging trenches and ended up in a hospital with frostbite . All this time he composed music, played the piano and painted - and is perhaps the only major pianist of the 20th century who did not receive a systematic music education (Brendel attended Edwin Fisher and Eduard Shteierman workshops , occasionally studied with Arthur Michl and Paul Baumgartner and externally graduated from the Vienna Academy of Music ).

Brendel's first performance took place in Graz when he was 17 years old and was completely dedicated to the fugue , and along with the works of Bach , Brahms and Liszt, Brendel performed several of his compositions. Later, however, Brendel completely abandoned writing. In 1949, Brendel took part in the Ferruccio Busoni Piano Competition and received the 4th prize; in 1950 he moved to Vienna . By 1952, the first Brendel record is recorded - Prokofiev’s Fifth Piano Concerto. Until the 1970s, Brendel performed a lot in Austria, performing mainly Beethoven sonatas, works by Brahms, Liszt, Schumann and Schubert , however, international recognition came to Brundel after London performances in the mid-1970s (initially with Beethoven's works); in London and pretzel moved. Beethoven was also associated with the historical cycles of the pretzel concerts of the 1980s - 90s , including the performance of all 32 Beethoven sonatas in Carnegie Hall .

In recent years, Alfred Brendel has been studying with young pianists, performs in an ensemble with his son, cellist Adrian Brendel, and publishes his poems. In 2002, he was awarded the Robert Schumann Prize for his contribution to the Schumanovsky repertoire. In 2004, Brendel was awarded the Ernst Siemens Award - one of the world's most prestigious music awards.

The repertoire of Brendel is dominated by Austrian and German classics. Brendel turns to music of the 20th century comparatively rarely, although Arnold Schoenberg’s piano concerto is one of his most important works. Brendel’s creative credo stems from his statement: “I am responsible to the composer, and especially to the work,” - Brendel’s position is often described as the position of an analyst musician.

• Chevalier of the Order of the British Empire
• Ernst von Siemens Award ( 2004 )
• Imperial Prize (Japan) ( 2009 )

Introduced into the Hall of Fame Gramophone magazine ^[1] .

• The official site of Alfred Brendel (eng.)