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Tony Watson
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« on: 16:37:09, 05-06-2007 » |
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Alfred Brendel is playing tonight at the Birmingham Symphony Hall. The top price for tickets is £30.
In two days' time I'm very proud of the fact that he's coming to play the same programme for us. After that, he's off to Aldeburgh, the Sage at Gateshead then the Royal Festival Hall, etc. Our tickets cost £15 max for a far more intimate venue and yet I know that people will moan about the expense (we normally charge about £10). For the first time we are going to charge for the programmes: 50p for 12 pages with no adverts (and put together by yours truly). People will moan about that too but they can be so parochial in Shropshire. I expect to enjoy the concert anyway and having said that our audiences are very well behaved and appreciative and the artists often compliment them on the fact. Afterwards we shall take the usual refreshments and it's quite usual for the performers to join us, although I think Alfred Brendel likes his peace and quiet too much for that.
It's a sell-out for us and I know we're a bit out of the way but maybe I can tempt you with next season's concerts. We hope to have Tasmin Little with an orchestra, the London Mozart Trio, the Red Priests, Martin Roscoe and Ensemble 360, maybe others.
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Don Basilio
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« Reply #1 on: 17:52:34, 05-06-2007 » |
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Gosh, Tony, my view of Shropshire is radically expanded. All this and Blandings Castle as well...
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To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh: a time to mourn, and a time to dance
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eruanto
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« Reply #2 on: 19:12:55, 05-06-2007 » |
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apologies for the ignorance, Tony, but where (in Shropshire) is this concert? The place sounds great - 50p programmes means i could actually afford them!
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Tony Watson
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« Reply #3 on: 19:21:51, 05-06-2007 » |
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Oswestry, north Shropshire, near the border with Wales.
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eruanto
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« Reply #4 on: 19:33:48, 05-06-2007 » |
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aha! very near the border with Wales! I was driven through there once. Can't remember much, though...  |
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marbleflugel
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« Reply #5 on: 21:06:36, 05-06-2007 » |
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I remember Brendel's advocacy for the Concert Hall in Reading (lovely acoustic but in disrepair when he first spoke out). He didnt have to say this but did knowing that thepoweers that be would take notice. I missed hearing perform with his celllist son Adrian when I was there. I wonder if theyve recorded together yet? He seems to be having an illustrious indian summer, and long may he.
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'...A celebrity is someone who didn't get the attention they needed as an adult'
Arnold Brown
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BobbyZ
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« Reply #6 on: 21:20:15, 05-06-2007 » |
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marbleflugel
The Brendel's have recorded together, Beethoven's music for piano and cello on Philips.
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Dreams, schemes and themes
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marbleflugel
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« Reply #7 on: 21:38:09, 06-06-2007 » |
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Cheers Bobby  |
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'...A celebrity is someone who didn't get the attention they needed as an adult'
Arnold Brown
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Tony Watson
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« Reply #8 on: 23:59:37, 06-06-2007 » |
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I've been checking out Brendel's own piano tonight, which was delivered delivered today for tomorrow's concert. It's all getting exciting.
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Daniel
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« Reply #9 on: 00:24:35, 07-06-2007 » |
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I seem to remember in the eighties I heard that Brendel had a reputation for making pianos somewhat less playable after they had received the Brendel 'treatment'. I'm not quite sure what he is supposed to have had done to them, but it was a story I heard once or twice. Wonderful pianist though, I'd certainly share your excitement in the same situation.
I know somebody who lives opposite him in Hampstead and who sometimes hears the sound of his practice floating down the path, which is hardly the worst noise you could get.
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Tony Watson
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« Reply #10 on: 00:26:15, 07-06-2007 » |
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I'm no piano expert but I can say that the piano in question (Brendel's own and a Steinway) had a lighter touch than usual.
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trained-pianist
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« Reply #11 on: 00:30:42, 07-06-2007 » |
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Tony,
Does Brendel play on his own piano or piano rented from Steinway. Horowitz used to perform on his own piano which was lighter than usual.
Hoffman's piano had smaller keys (less wide). I read it somewhere.
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Tony Watson
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« Reply #12 on: 00:37:21, 07-06-2007 » |
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Tony,
Does Brendel play on his own piano or piano rented from Steinway. Horowitz used to perform on his own piano which was lighter than usual.
Hoffman's piano had smaller keys (less wide). I read it somewhere.
I'm not sure whether he rents or owns it but I was told that work had been done on it to make the keys lighter to the touch. It is the same piano he played in Birmingham on Tuesday and the one he will play at Aldeburgh soon. He had a special team to deliver it. The keys were standard width but the cover was the thickest I'd ever seen, made by a company called Mushroom. |
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« Last Edit: 00:43:09, 07-06-2007 by Tony Watson »
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pim_derks
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« Reply #13 on: 00:42:15, 07-06-2007 » |
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Brendel is also famous for eating in silent restaurants.
Boy, I wish I'd had his list of restaurants. I hate music in restaurants. I want to eat in silence.
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"People hate anything well made. It gives them a guilty conscience." John Betjeman
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trained-pianist
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« Reply #14 on: 00:50:35, 07-06-2007 » |
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I never heard about silent restaurants. In Russia they play in Restaurants and it is too loud some times (always). One can not hear anything. People used to dance in Restaurants.
But here in Ireland they don't play in restaurants as a rule.
It is nice to eat in silence. One can think and enjoy the food.
I only heard Brendel on TV and on DVD. He is going to be remembered like a great pianist.
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