Search - Alfred Brendel, Adrian Brendel :: Beethoven: Complete Works for Piano & Cello

A Beethoven Album for the 21 century

Mr. Keys | Toronto, Ontario | 03/15/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"While there have been countless recordings of Beethoven's Cello sonatas - Schnabel and Fournier, Richter and Rostropovich, Cortot and Fournier - this album sticks out in my mind. While today's musical sobriety has left us with many boring performances, this album proves that relatively stright interpretations leave a great deal of room for flexibility. There is nothing offensive and everything is in good taste. I must add that the 3rd sonata is hair raising and electrifying in its rhythmic drive. Brendel has proven to us once again (with the help of his son) that his clear conceptions lead to great music. This album is not to be missed."

Spendid Performances of These Beethoven Pieces From The Bren

John Kwok | New York, NY USA | 03/21/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I will have to listen again to my Deutsche Grammophon recordings of these same Beethoven pieces which were recorded nearly fifty years ago by legendary musicians pianist Friedrich Gulda and cellist Pierre Fournier; their performances I truly regard as definitive for these very works. However, I am equally impressed with the polished, emotionally understated playing shown by both Brendels, father and son, in this relatively new Philips recording. Distinguished pianist Alfred Brendel shows more of his typically sublime, technically proficient playing, in which he emphasizes Beethoven's ties to his mentors and contemporaries Mozart and especially, Haydn. However, without question, the real surprise is the superb playing from his son, the young cellist Adrian Brendel, who demonstrates that he is artistically as gifted a musician as his well-known father. My own personal favorites are their elegant playing of the first third cello sonatas, in which both truly shine individually in dramatic, yet still emotionally understated, turns as soloists, but there are truly ample examples of their exquisite playing throughout this two-CD set. So I am inclined to agree with another reviewer that theirs is truly a 21st Century Beethoven works for piano and cello definitive recording, and one that deserves favorable comparison to the great ones of the last century, including my own personal favorite from Gulda and Fournier."

Inspiring

Dr Karl | 06/03/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This version of Beethoven's extraordinary set of 5 cello and piano sonatas has been rightly praised. Bendel father and son play beautifully, in total harmony. It must be so rewarding for a father to be able to play these eternally youthful masterpieces with his son. The recording is excellent and the tone of the instruments just lovely. I did feel occasionally I needed this extra bit of momentum, the hell for leather quality that Richter and Rostropovich bring to these works, but these are admirable performances. It annoyed me a bit that the sonatas are not in their Opus number sequence, but the sets of variations are just wonderful. I have to admit that when Beethoven brings his own extraordinary twist to Papageno's tune from the Magic Flute in the concluding variation, Alfred Brendel had me chuckling with delight to myself. Inspiring."