About the relationship between pianist Alfred Brendel and the young composer and pianist Kit Armstrong. The film is an intimate chronicle of their relationship during 2008-9 and includes the only footage of Brendel performing during his farewell tour.
Alfred Brendel in Portrait is a double-disc set that all admirers of this most intellectual of pianists will want to own. The first disc is a short but intense recital, consisting of Haydn's Sonata in E Flat Major, Mozart's Sonata in C minor and Schubert's G Flat Impromptu; these are thoughtful yet lyrical performances, filmed with a concentration that brings out Brendel's angst-driven magnetism. The second disc starts with a 70-minute documentary that details Brendel's upbringing and early encounters with music and his gradual metamorphosis from brilliant young virtuoso specialising in Liszt to serious-minded interpreter of the Viennese classics: it includes a lot of expressive footage of performances of everything from the Brahms First Piano Concerto to Schubert's Winterreise with Mathias Goerne and much discussion of Brendel's extra-musical interests in poetry and painting. The disc is filled out with the pianist and Sir Simon Rattle discussing how to perform Beethoven's Second and Third Piano Concertos, and Brendel reading his own poetry in German. The multi-regional DVDs are double-sided with PAL and NSTC formats. The 16:9 anamorphic viewing ratio provides us with a hypnotically clear picture to go with extraordinarily perfect Dolby surround sound. They come with subtitles in English, French and German. --Roz Kaveney
Track Listing: Schubert: 1.Sonata in C minor D958 2.Sonata in A major D959 3.Sonata in B flat major D960
Alfred Brendal performs: Beethoven: Piano Sonata No 29 in B flat major Op 106 'Hammerklavier'. Beethoven: Six Bagatelles for Piano Op 126 Nos 2 & 3. Schubert: 'Wanderer' Fantasy in C major D760 (with Julius Katchen on piano).
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No.3 / Bruckner: Symphony No.7
Schubert: Winterreise
An All-Star Tribute To Steinway
Brendel Plays Late Schubert (5 Discs)
Alfred Brendel Plays And Introduces Schubert #01
Alfred Brendel plays Beethoven: Sonata Hammerklavier / Bagatelles No. 2 and 3
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