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(More customer reviews)The performance of Schubert's B flat Sonata is alone worth the price of the entire CD. If there has been a better recording and more fully realized vision of this piece to date, I don't know of it. The rest of the playing is very good and solid and makes a wonderful cohesive recital. The final Bach-Busoni encore whose lines are brought out by Brendel as if in front of a giant baroque church organ is gorgeously played than fades to black. It's a great way to close the record and lid on one of the all time great classical concert artists of all time, a time-span which encompasses the early LP stereo era through the advent of CD's and DVD's, remarkable. Future generations will have a great sample of high quality recordings of his unique talent at their disposable so they can hear for themselves some of the magic of this man. I hope this record wins a few awards as it should. Brendel has given the musical world many gifts throughout his career and it is fitting that he leaves us with one last one. Everybody should buy this without hesitation, as this type of piano recital, is a dying art, one that doesn't try to impress through bombast and pyrotechnical razzmatazz, but from virtuosic playing, deeply felt and a deeply satisfying experience. Own it for you and your future generations to cherish, so the art is not lost.
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Alfred Brendel has for many years been among the world s greatest pianists: in concert, recital and on many best-selling recordings. Here, in his last CD release recorded in the year of his retirement (2008), he gives his final public performances in solo recital and in concert revealing a master musician in total command of his art. This 2CD digipak souvenir set captures these two memorable occasions. Recorded live in Hanover, Brendel's farewell recital featured composers with whom he is most closely associated throughout his career with a set of variations by Haydn, and sonatas by Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert. It is fitting that Alfred Brendel's final public performance should be in Vienna's beautiful Musikverein, with the Wiener Philharmoniker an orchestra with whom he has enjoyed a long and fruitful collaboration. The concert was conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras, marking the end of an exceptional partnership between pianist and conductor. The booklet includes Brendel's own notes on the recital repertoire, and tributes from Sir Charles Mackerras and Prof. Dr. Clemens Hellberg of the Vienna Philharmonic, as well as a farewell statement from Alfred Brendel himself.
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