Winterreise | Fischer-Dieskau & Brendel
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On Brendel:
Brendel was born in Wiesenberg, Czechoslovakia (now Loučná nad Desnou, Czech Republic) to a non-musical family. They moved to Zagreb, Yugoslavia (now Croatia), when Brendel was three years old and there he began at the age of six piano lessons with Sofija Deželić. He later moved to Graz, Austria, where he studied piano with Ludovica von Kaan at the Graz Conservatory and composition with Artur Michel. Towards the end of World War II, the 14-year-old Brendel was sent back to Yugoslavia to dig trenches.
After the war, Brendel composed music as well as continuing to play the piano, to write and to paint. However, he never had more formal piano lessons and, although he attended master classes with Edwin Fischer and Eduard Steuermann, he was largely self-taught after the age of 16.
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I find it fascinating how F-D's intonation changes with and emphasises the mood and individual words of the text.
I wonder how significant fluency in a language and, for a wider perspective, knowledge about language use and historical context of the composition is for the interpretation of a piece. I guess these kinds of things are what distinguishes the good from the best interpretations.
I always cringe a little when I hear Schubert lieder performed with foreign accent. I don't hear much difference between native and foreign speakers in Opera, but for Schubert Lieder it's somehow different.
