Until his retirement in 2009, Alfred Brendelwas renowned the world over for hismastery of the Classical repertoire thatpushed forwards the boundaries of thepiano at the turn of the 18th century. Hereare his early recordings of these subtle anddramatic concertos and sonatas, all stereoand all as fresh and dynamic in impact aswhen they were recorded over 50 years ago.Alfred Brendel’s early recordings forVanguard may long have been scorned bythe pianist himself as he sought ever torefine in particular his mastery of theClassical repertoire, but they have stood thetest of time. Brendel’s way with Beethovenback then was perhaps more eruptive, hisMozart less suave, and in the concertos hewas accompanied by stalwarts of the musicscene in postwar Vienna.This set includes Beethoven’s completesonatas and concertos as well as the ChoralFantasy, various bagatelles and many of themore obscure variation sets as well as asplendid early traversal of the Diabellivariations. Eight Mozart concerto recordingsinclude his favourite ‘Jeunehomme’ K271, whichhe returned to many times during the course ofhis career, including his very last concert andrecording; smaller Mozart works in size ratherthan expressive content include the masterlyquintet for piano and winds, the C minorFantasy and endlessly consoling A minor Rondo.

Alfred Brendel piano

I Solisti di Zagreb,

Orchestra of the Vienna Volksoper,

Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra,

The Hungarian Quintet,

Vienna Symphony Orchestra,

Vienna Chamber Orchestra,

Stuttgart Lehrergesangverein

Paul Angerer, Antonio Janigro, Heinz Wallberg, Zubin Mehta,Wilfried Boettcher conductors