# I Love Brendel Playing Beethoven



## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Does he take away lots of the anger and madness, yes, but that's exactly why I love it. He plays it with a playful tenderness that just does it for me so much.

I really love his touch, and I love Beethoven's works!

:tiphat:


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Right now I'm listening to his approach to Beethoven's Piano Concertos.


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## Josquin13 (Nov 7, 2017)

IMO, Brendel recorded a very fine & underrated Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 1, with Haitink and the London Philharmonic: here his approach to Beethoven works brilliantly:






https://www.amazon.com/Beethoven-Pi...ds=beethoven+piano+concerto+1+haitink+brendel


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

It's interesting, I love Gould's Mozart/Haydn because he plays them like they are Baroque works, Periah's Bach b/c he romanticizes them, and Brendel's Beethoven since he plays them like Classical Era works.

What's wrong with me?


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## realdealblues (Mar 3, 2010)

Captainnumber36 said:


> It's interesting, I love Gould's Mozart/Haydn because he plays them like they are Baroque works, Periah's Bach b/c he romanticizes them, and Brendel's Beethoven since he plays them like Classical Era works.
> 
> What's wrong with me?


You like what you like, nothing wrong with that. Nothing says you have to like what everyone else deems correct.

I have all of Brendel's recordings and I like Brendel's Beethoven. It's not my favorite, but I like it. I also like Arrau's Beethoven which is more romantic in some regards. I also like Buchbinder's Beethoven (Early Recordings) which is probably more in line with how Beethoven would have probably played/envisioned them. I think Beethoven's writing is strong enough to work with most interpretations.

I like Gould's interpretations of everything because Gould was entirely unique in his ideas. It may not be correct, but it will certainly get a reaction out of most people, either to one end of the spectrum or the other. I also like Periah's interpretations of most everything too because they are usually very well thought out.

As long as you enjoy it as the listener, that's all that really matters.

For the Piano Concertos, my favorite is still Fleisher/Szell, but Rubinstein/Leinsdorf comes in at the top for me as well. Two totally different styles, but that doesn't stop me from enjoying them both.


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

Brendel's early Late Beethoven (opp. 101 - 111) on Turnabout was my introduction to those sonatas, and I still like the performances.


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## WildThing (Feb 21, 2017)

Like most pianists, he's better in some sonatas than in others. His Appasionata and Hammerklavier, among others, leave a lot to be desired from me.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

realdealblues said:


> I have all of Brendel's recordings and I like Brendel's Beethoven.


I have two of his Beethoven cycles, and like you, overall, I like his playing. He doesn't always send me over the moon like, say, Solomon does on the Hammerklavier, but I do like his playing.


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

Captainnumber36 said:


> Does he take away lots of the anger and madness, yes, but that's exactly why I love it.


And it's exactly why I don't particularly like it.


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## Hermastersvoice (Oct 15, 2018)

Some good recommendations here. Nobody’s mentioned Friedrich Gulda’s Cycle on Orfeo. It’s my favorite, ahead of Brendel and Kempff for its invigorating sense of freedom, comparable to his cycle of the Cello sonatas with Fournier. Or Richter’s Schumann with Wislocki - but now I’m straying away from the subject.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

There's a lot of Beethoven by Brendel on record, three sets of all 32 sonatas for example, and they don't take the same approach at all. For my part the two things I appreciate most from him in Beethoven are the Diabelli Variations and the Hammerklavier, though as with the sonatas, there are a lot of diffeent recordings some much more interesting to me than others.

I saw him play the Diabelli Variations in Edinburgh, it was a fabulous late night concert, and I saw him do a cycle of all five concertos in London. I'll just mention that anyone who wants to dip their toe in the water could do worse than listen to these


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Did Beethoven compose for Pianoforte? I can't imagine his works on anything but the modern piano. I do enjoy Mozart on the Pianoforte though!


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## realdealblues (Mar 3, 2010)

Captainnumber36 said:


> Did Beethoven compose for Pianoforte? I can't imagine his works on anything but the modern piano. I do enjoy Mozart on the Pianoforte though!


Yes, but the piano was continually evolving during his life. He was constantly frustrated by the pianos of his era and their inability to convey his compositions. They would add keys and he would use them in his next composition. He wanted them to have much more fullness of sound, a much wider range of volume and range of notes. Broadwood produced a grand piano more to Beethoven's liking in 1817 but it wasn't until after he died that Steinway really made the piano he probably would have loved most.

He was always forward thinking wanting bigger, better, more volume, etc. That's why I've always said I believe he would jumped at the chance to have modern instruments and a modern orchestra. He hated the limitations of what he had in his day. Mozart and Bach were the same way to me as well. Mozart wrote for Harpsichord but then as soon as the Fortepiano came out he started writing for it. Had he had a modern Steinway he would have loved it and wrote for that. The more options for dynamics, volume and notes, the more creativity they could unleash.

Originally I listened to a lot of HIP and Period Performances, but now I see it more as a novelty of how it sounded at that time because I feel none of them would have "preferred" those to recordings of modern instruments.

Just my feelings...


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## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

I also like Brendel. His _Andante Favori_ is amazing in my opinion, and I love his _Waldstein_ too. His Schubert is also great, I believe.


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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

Brendel's protégé is Paul Lewis, an Englishman whose discography continues to grow. Anyone that likes Brendel will probably like him too. They both have the same sober, slightly reserved approach, the opposite of hair-raising virtuosity.


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