For over half a century, Alfred Brendel has been a keyboard icon. At the end of 2008, he retires from the concert platform after a punishing schedule of performances, of which this recital at St George's is the first. At 76, Brendel looks no older than he did at 66, and is anyway immortalised in his recordings. Thus, for his devoted followers, this seems not so much an occasion to pay their final homage than the chance to feel again the incredible aura created when he pays his own tribute to the great Viennese composers who are the cornerstone of classical music.
Brendel's programme of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert was a suitably definitive survey of the repertoire and a reminder that this pianist has arguably done more than anyone of his generation to popularise the music, while making his listeners aware of its intellectual complexity and richness. Haydn's Andante con Variazione in F minor, Hob XVII/6 begins with one of the simplest but most poignant of melodies; Brendel's understated approach revealed the degree to which Haydn was inspired by Mozart in the twists and turns of chromatic colour. In the increasingly complex elaborations, Brendel kept an astute balance between lyrical line and decorative tracery, but it was in the extraordinary final variation that Haydn's intense passion was given full rein.
Appropriately, Mozart's Sonata in F, K533, which followed, is notable for a contrapuntal knottiness showing the reciprocal influence of Haydn. Brendel's delivery of the rippling passagework of the Allegro was precise but more mechanical, and it was in the first delightfully meandering innocence of the Rondo and then its more extrovert cadenza that its charm emerged most convincingly. Brendel then brought a more mellow tone to Beethoven's Sonata in E flat, Op 27 No 1, subtitled Quasi una Fantasia, yet revelled in the quirky rhythmic patterns that defy expectation.
Schubert's Sonata in B flat major, D960, has been a signature work for Brendel: his interpretation here bore all the hallmark clarity and rigour, with moments of visionary grace. The St George's audience, usually ready to stamp their feet in noisy approval, were relatively restrained, reflecting both the monumentality of the Schubert and a sense of nostalgia at the beginning of the end of an era.
· At City Halls, Glasgow, tonight. Box office: 0141-343 8000. Tour details at alfredbrendel.com
