Alfred Brendel, the renowned pianist and author, has died aged 94.

Born in Moravia in 1931, Alfred Brendel’s parents were not musical and he himself was not a child prodigy. Due to his father’s work, Brendel and his family moved around Yugoslavia and Austria, and whilst in Zagreb young Alfred began piano lessons with Sofia Dezelic. When the family then moved to Graz, Brendel enrolled at the Graz Conservatory and made his debut in the city at the age of seventeen. He never studied with a famous teacher, and from the time he left the Graz Conservatory his only influence was the pianist Edwin Fischer. Having attended a masterclass with the latter in 1949 in Lucerne, Brendel always credited Fischer as the most important pianistic influence in his life.

Brendel did not make his London debut until 1958, but during that decade he was working hard at building repertoire, and by the early 1960s he was playing all the Beethoven piano sonatas in public. By performing the complete set across eight concerts in London’s Wigmore Hall in 1962, Brendel carved himself a niche: his recordings for Vox of Beethoven’s complete solo piano works, made between 1958 and 1964, raised his international profile immeasurably. It was particularly in the music of Beethoven and Schubert that Brendel was able to realise his belief that the music and message of the composer were the most important things, not the piano nor the performer. Having recorded for Philips for more than thirty years, his catalogue with that label is extensive, and the recording of The Art of Alfred Brendel on twenty-five albums gives an excellent overview of his work.

As a cerebral pianist, rather than one whose playing was based solely on emotion, Brendel established himself as a highly intelligent musician who also displayed wit and humour in his writings, Musical Thoughts and Afterthoughts (1976) and Music Sounded Out (1990). Following his final concert with the Vienna Philharmonic in December 2008 (preserved on the Decca label), he remained active lecturing, writing, giving readings of his poetry and teaching master classes.

In 1971, Brendel made London his home. He remained in the affluent artistic community of Hampstead until his death, having been repeatedly and internationally feted with honorary degrees and prestigious awards.

Footage of Brendel in conversation with fellow international pianist Francesco Piemontesi appears in The Alchemy of the Piano, a documentary released only last month by Naxos. Following the news of Brendel’s death, Piemontesi commented:

Alfred Brendel Biography & Discography