Simultaneously, I entertained the hope that what I taught myself may be of some interest to others. In some of my essays and lectures I’ve tried to clear my own mind, explain things to myself, give myself advice, and provide answers to questions to which I couldn’t find satisfying ones in the literature available to me at the time of writing. Next to my musical existence, I have always liked to operate with words. I feel lucky that most of it went as I imagined it would.

But I had already set my mind on what I wanted to do with the rest of my life: writing some more, lecturing, coaching, performing my poems with Pierre-Laurent Aimard or my son Adrian, collecting honorary degrees, looking at exhibitions, going to the theatre, watching films, re-reading my favourite books, and listening to all those works by Handel and Haydn that I hadn’t encountered before. I decided to stop my concert career while still in command of rhythm and nuances sixty years of playing in public seemed sufficient. Read moreĬollection of my writings, Alfred Brendel on Music, appeared in 2007 a number of things have happened.

Whether discussing Bach or Beethoven, Schubert or Schoenberg, Brendel's reflections are illuminating and challenging, a treasure for the specialist and the music lover alike.

As well as providing stimulating reading, this new edition provides a unique insight into the exceptional mind of one of the outstanding musicians of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The definitive collection of his award-winning writings and essays, Music, Sense and Nonsense combines all of his work originally published in his two classic books, Musical Thoughts and Afterthoughts and Music Sounded Out, along with significant new material on a lifetime of recording, performance habits and reflections on life and art. Far from having merely one string to his bow, however, Brendel is also one of the world's most remarkable writers on music - possessed of the rare ability to bring the clarity and originality of expression that characterised his performances to the printed page. Alfred Brendel, one of the greatest pianists of our time, is renowned for his masterly interpretations of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and Liszt, and has been credited with rescuing from oblivion the piano music of Schubert's last years.

Me of All People by Alfred Brendel