The Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich once accompanied his last tour.
Alfred Brendel ended his last tour in October 2008 with a Bach encore. The concert took place at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and before the encore he had played Mozart's "Jeunehomme" concerto - accompanied by the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich under the direction of David Zinman.
Brendel could undoubtedly have won over any orchestra in the world for his farewell tour. But he chose the Zurich orchestra because of David Zinman, whom he had known and appreciated for a long time, and because he knew how adaptable and flexible this orchestra is. You could also hear it accompanying the tour: at the first rehearsal in the acoustically delicate Salle Pleyel in Paris, for example, the pianist asked for softer, more cantabile playing from the violins, "otherwise this hall will swallow everything up". The performance was soft and cantabile.
Alfred Brendel was 77 years old at the time, and the music world reacted with dismay to his unexpected retirement from the stage. At the same time, many were impressed by the consistency with which he went through with it: "His decision to end his musical career at an early stage impressed me just as much as his unconditional will to express himself, his very own ideas of sound and his incomparable humour," says Ilona Schmiel, Director of the Tonhalle-Gesellschaft Zürich.
The Austrian Alfred Brendel, born in 1931 in Wiesenberg in the Czech Republic and raised as the son of a cinema operator couple in Zagreb, also always followed a clear line when it came to repertoire. His focus was on the great works of classical and romantic piano literature, which he played over and over again - because he was "not quickly satisfied", as he once said.
What this meant could also be experienced in the Tonhalle Zurich from 1962. Alfred Brendel's first appearance here, which is still documented by hand in the archives, was under the direction of Hans Rosbaud. This was followed by very sporadic concerts until 1996, when his regular collaboration with David Zinman began.
In the orchestral concerts, Brendel played exclusively works by Beethoven and Mozart, with one Liszt exception; in recitals he also devoted himself to Haydn, and Schumann, Schubert and again Liszt. The reviews repeatedly praised his increasingly relaxed, natural and heartfelt playing: he was not a showman, but a musician who focussed his entire art on getting closer and closer to the composers' intentions.
He also did this in numerous brilliantly written essays - because Brendel was not only a keyboard artist but also a linguistic artist. After his retirement from the stage, he not only became a sought-after lecturer, but also a poet: his witty and wry poems about musicians, himself and art itself have just as unmistakable a tone as his interpretations on the piano once did.
Alfred Brendel has now died in London at the age of 94. What remains are numerous recordings and texts - and memories of a great artist.
