A scholar and lover of literature as well as world-class pianist, Brendel offers in these essays a rare glimpse into the mind of an exceptional performer, wrestling with the duties and pleasures that come with making music.

Music Sounded Out: Essays, Lectures, Interviews, Afterthoughts

Arts & Photography

BRENDEL, Alfred

Music

Farrar. Straus and Giroux

Lightly Used Condition. Amazon Box2

Musical Thoughts and Afterthoughts

Noonday Pr

This deceptively slight volume is proof that not only good but excellent things often come in small packages. A master of the piano, Alfred Brendel here turns in a deft performance as poet, building fantastic little "word machines" of extraordinary tensile strength. We are drawn immediately into a fun-house world of suspicious but wondrous goings-on: The supernumerary index finger of the pianist in the title poem, we're told, sometimes pointed out "an obstinate cougher in the hall/or emerged from beneath his tailcoat/beckoning a lady in the third row." Elsewhere, Beethoven, disguised as Salieri, poisons a sleeping Mozart and skulks away clutching, forever, Mozart's greatest possession--the key of C minor. And the conceptual artist Christo wraps the Three Tenors on the balcony of La Scala. These constantly surprising poems enchant even as they sting, revealing the light (and dark) side of Alfred Brendel, one of the world's greatest musicians. His followers will have to have this book, but so will anyone who enjoys readable poetry touched by a divine madness.

One Finger Too Many

Literature & Fiction

Poetry

Random House, Inc.

Paperback, with a few scores on page block. Remains very good, with clean, sound pages. TS

One finger too many

Faber and Faber

Ever since Alfred Brendel bid farewell to the concert stage after six decades of performing, he has been passing on his insight and experience in the form of lectures, readings and master-classes. This reader for lovers of the piano distils his musical and linguistic eloquence and vast knowledge, and will prove invaluable to anyone with an interest in the technique, history and repertoire of the piano. Erudite, witty, enlightening and deeply personal, A Pianist's A to Z is the ideal book for all piano lovers, musicians and music aficionados: rarely has the instrument been described in such an entertaining and intelligent fashion.

A Pianist's A–Z

Faber&Faber

The title of this collection of essays refers to a tailor’s mannequin that Alfred Brendel spotted in a shop window in Arezzo, a small Tuscan town. Who is this strange lady? And why is she carrying an egg on her head? What is she looking at? The mannequin was purchased and now graces a room in the attic of Brendel’s house in Hampstead. Her features convey great artistic seriousness in combination with absurd comedy: the epitome of his own musical and literary preferences. And so, in his delightful new collection, great masters of nonsense meet great masters of music.

The Lady from Arezzo

Musical Thoughts and Afterthoughts (Princeton Essays on the Arts)

The description for this book, Musical Thoughts and Afterthoughts, will be forthcoming.

Reference

Princeton University Press

The description for this book, Musical Thoughts and Afterthoughts, will be forthcoming.

Playing the Human Game

Phaidon Press

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Books by BRENDEL, Alfred

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by BRENDEL, Alfred. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Music Sounded Out: Essays, Lectures, Interviews, Afterthoughts

Musical Thoughts and Afterthoughts

Music Sounded Out: Essays, Lectures, Interviews, Afterthoughts

One Finger Too Many

One finger too many

A Pianist's A–Z

The Lady from Arezzo

Musical Thoughts and Afterthoughts (Princeton Essays on the Arts)

Musical Thoughts and Afterthoughts (Princeton Essays on the Arts)

Playing the Human Game