Arts
| NORTH YORKSHIRE |  | | | CLEVELAND | | | | COUNTY DURHAM | | |
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Alfred Brendel: The Sage, Gateshead
IT IS not often in the North-East
that one finds a capacity audience
of 1,600 for a solo classical pianist,
unless, of course, it is the 77-yearold
Alfred Brendel making his
farewell tour with a programme of
the very essence of musical Vienna
at the turn of the 18th century:
Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and
Schubert.
First came Haydn's F minor Variations
Hob XVII/6, then Mozart's
Piano Sonata in F, with the allegro,
andante and rondo movements
from his K533/494, played with exquisite
beauty in the andante and
in the rondo finale's delicate tracery
of sound.
Then came the stronger brew of
Beethoven's Sonata in E flat, quasi
una fantasia, Op 27/1, partner to
the more famous Moonlight
Sonata, marking the shift from the
traditional structure established by
Haydn and Mozart.
The valedictory nature of Schubert's
great, final, Piano Sonata in
B flat major, D960 provided a fitting
farewell to a career of nearly 60
years since the Busoni Piano Competition
of 1949.
Arturo Toscanini used to exhort
his string players to "cantare, sempre
cantare" ("sing, always sing"), a
maxim that the combination of
Schubert, Brendel and a basically
percussive piano produced in
massive quantities in this performance,
even to the bustle of the
final pages.
Thunderous, standing, ovations
brought a reward of two encores by
Bach and Liszt to round off a memorable
evening.
Reviewed by Dave Robson
2:33pm Friday 9th May 2008
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