Classical Notes: December 19, 2008 Archive

Pianist Alfred Brendel Retires

Posted at 10:33 AM on December 19, 2008 by Gillian Martin

Pianist Alfred Brendel gave his final public performance last night, to a 20-minute standing ovation. He'd been playing professionally for about 60 years.

Fred Child of Performance Today put together a lovely tribute to Mr. Brendel, including clips of an interview Fred did with him a few years ago. It gives a glimpse into the man and his off-beat sense of humor. Find it on Fred's blog Today's Fredlines, here.

Estonia's Singing Revolution

Posted at 11:19 AM on December 19, 2008 by Gillian Martin

I'm listening to Christmas with Cantus live on Classical MPR right now, and one of the singers just mentioned how vital choral singing is to the culture of Estonia. He plugged a recent documentary on how choral music helped Estonia throw off Soviet control in the early 1990s. The film is called The Singing Revolution, and on the MPR blog Movie Natters, Euen Kerr wrote about it earlier this week. Read Euen's entry here.