He was a wonderful teacher. He is extremely articulate and very demanding. He made no concessions to my age. In my first lesson, I was playing a Schubert piano sonata, and the first chord took 20 minutes. I played it again and again, and Brendel wandered around the room saying: “No, balance of sound wrong … Too much bass … Not quite the right colour.” I started hearing from inside his head. Eventually, I played the chord and he turned around and said, “Thank you,” and I knew it was right. But then, so help me God, I had to play the next chord.
Imogen Cooper, “A Master Bows Out”, The Guardian, 15 December 2008, https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/dec/15/alfred-brendel-pianist-classical-music1, (Accessed 10 July 2024).
Imogen Cooper on a lesson with Alfred Brendel
by
Tags:
Featured Content
A carriage of flowers for Tchaikovsky
Tchaikovsky’s favourite flower was lilies of the valley. The local musical society at Tiflis was extremely enthusiastic to have the presence of Tchaikovsky at a gala concert of his works at the Opera House: Ippolitov-Ivanov had thought of everything, even finding out by devious means what his favourite flower was. This flower did not grow […]
What Cage couldn’t stand“John Cage once said he couldn’t abide the Dominant Seventh, and the saxophone.” Ned Rorem (2000) Lies: A Diary 1986-1999. Cambridge: MA: Da Capo Press, p.65.
The advantages of having a managerVaughan Williams had asked Holst about his experience of having an agent. Holst, who was at Harvard University at the time, replied: I’m very glad I’ve made use of Duncan McKenzie (OUP) as an agent. He has been really helpful and I hope you’ll at least consider using him. The alternative would be to print […]
Brahms’ reaction to Wagner’s MusicBrahms attended a Wagner concert in Vienna: All through the concert Johannes sat in stony silence. At the close, when everyone was applauding vigorously, he still made no move or comment. Finally his companion – beside himself with enthusiasm – cried: “What music! Wasn’t it marvellous?” The composer raised his eyebrows a little. Then he […]
The life of a pianistMy life involves endless hours of repetitive and frustrating practising, lonely hotel rooms, dodgy pianos, aggressively bitchy reviews, isolation, confusing airline reward programmes, physiotherapy, stretches of nervous boredom … punctuated by short moments of extreme pressure …perhaps most crushingly, the realisation that I will never, ever give the perfect recital. It can only ever, with […]
Piotr Anderszewski on interpretationTo me it’s all about how you read and translate the music you play: the most important thing is to reach the point where you feel you understand what happened in the composer’s mind before he actually wrote it. Musical notation is a very sophisticated yet imperfect system; it was the only way for the […]
DaydreamTitle: Daydream Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: Cello and piano Product medium: PDF score and part SAMPLE:
Cry Out With Joy and Gladness – Isaiah 12Title: Cry out with joy and gladness Text: Isaiah 12:2-6 Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: SATB and piano (unison verses) Product medium: PDF score and part SAMPLE:
Bernstein as a counterpoint student at HarvardThe composer Harold Shapero, who lived a few doors away from Bernstein in Newton and was a year behind him at Harvard, also noted Bernstein’s cavalier approach to counterpoint studies. “Lenny didn’t come to class at all. I was a dutiful little student. I did my Palestrina stuff and I got an ‘A.’ . . […]
Finding the voice of PiazzollaI was writing symphonies, chamber music, string quartets. But when Nadia Boulanger analyzed my music, she complained that she couldn’t find any Piazzolla in there. She could find Ravel and Stravinsky, maybe Bela Bartok or Hindemith, but never Piazzolla. The truth is I was ashamed to tell her that I was a tango musician, that […]