Alfred Brendel in Portrait 2 DVD / BBC Opus Arte / Directed by Mark Kidel / Brendel plays Haydn, Mozart and Schubert / With a unique documentary

UPC 8717056560021

REGION 0 PAL / NTSC DVD (Side 1 pal, Side 2 Ntsc)

MADE IN UK

AUDIO: English 2.0, English 5.1

SUBTITLES: English, French, German

Total Runtime: 155 minutes

English Summary:

Alfred Brendel, an artist described as 'the greatest living pianist', gives once in a lifetime access into his private world.This double DVD set includes:

RECITAL: Featuring Haydn - Piano Sonata in E flat major, Hob XVI/49, Mozart - Piano Sonata in C minor, K45,Schubert - Impromptu No. 3 in G flat, D 899

DOCUMENTARY FILM: In an illuminating documentary that chronicles his childhood and early influences, Alfred Brendel reveals his stature as an international performer, displays his admiration for the work of other artists and gives rare insights into his ideas and philosophy.

Region Code: All regions
Picture format: 16:9 Anamorphic
Running time: approx 155 minutes 2 x DVD 10
Sound format: Dolby Digital Surround, LPCM Stereo
Menu language: GB Subtitle languages GB/F/D
Cat. No.: OA 0811 D (PAL/NTSC)

PLUS.

Alfred Brendel reads his own witty and self-revelatory poetry

An inspiring conversation at the piano, in which Sir Simon Rattle and Alfred Brendel discuss the fine detail of Beethoven's Piano Concertos Nos 2 & 3

Brendel was born in Wiesenberg, Czechoslovakia (now Loučná nad Desnou, Czech Republic) to a non-musical family. They moved to Zagreb, Yugoslavia (now Croatia), when Brendel was three years old and there he began at the age of six piano lessons with Sofija Deželić. He later moved to Graz, Austria, where he studied piano with Ludovica von Kaan at the Graz Conservatory and composition with Artur Michel. Towards the end of World War II, the 14-year-old Brendel was sent back to Yugoslavia to dig trenches.

After the war, Brendel composed music as well as continuing to play the piano, to write and to paint. However, he never had more formal piano lessons and, although he attended master classes with Edwin Fischer and Eduard Steuermann, he was largely self-taught after the age of 16.

Brendel gave his first public recital in Graz at the age of 17. 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 a sonata of Brendel's own composition. In 1949 he won fourth prize in the Ferruccio Busoni Piano Competition in Bolzano, Italy. He then toured throughout Europe and Latin America, slowly building his career and participating in a few masterclasses of Paul Baumgartner, Eduard Steuermann and Edwin Fischer.

At the age of 21, in 1952, he made his first solo recording, Franz Liszt's Weihnachtsbaum, the work's world premiere recording. His first concerto recording, Sergei Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 5 had been made a couple of years earlier. He went on to make a string of other records, including three complete sets of the Beethoven piano sonatas (one on Vox Records and two on Philips Records). He was the first performer to record the complete solo piano works of Beethoven. He has also recorded works by Liszt, Brahms (including Brahms' concertos), Robert Schumann and particularly Franz Schubert. An important collection of Alfred Brendel is the complete Mozart piano concertos recorded with Sir Neville Marriner and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, which is included in the Philips 180 CD complete Mozart Edition. He has recorded or performed little of the music of Frédéric Chopin, but not because of any lack of admiration for the composer. He considers Chopin's Preludes "the most glorious achievement in piano music after Beethoven and Schubert".