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

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