Alfred Brendel, piano
Carnegie Hall, New York.
February 20, 2008
A renowned interpreter of Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert, the Austrian pianist Alfred Brendel played works by all three in what was billed as his last New York recital, part of a season of lasts that will bring Brendel’s sixty years of public performance to an end.
Brendel, now seventy-seven, could have been mistaken for a much younger man. With a bounce in his (dignified) step each time he came on stage, including three encores and countless curtain calls, he showed no sign of fatigue at the keyboard. His opening piece was delightful, surprising, and perhaps the performance of the night: Haydn’s Variations in F minor, Hob. XVII:6. No sooner was the pianist seated than he launched decisively into the theme. Singing lightly to himself, he also took care to bring out voicings in the variations. Brendel maintained scrupulous attention to the clarity of the work and showed charismatic expression without ever rising above mezzo forte.
The Mozart that followed, Sonata in F Major, K. 533 / K. 494, was somewhat flat, as Brendel seemed to overthink his phrases, thus robbing the work of drama. The fire returned in Beethoven’s Sonata No. 13 in E-flat Major, Op. 27, No. 1, “quasi una fantasia,” with some agreeably indulgent phrasing and pleasing textures. In the shift from the second to the third movement (Allegro to Adagio), he effected a remarkable change of color. Brendel passed on the opportunity