Principal Jonathan Freeman-Attwood writes:
‘Alfred Brendel was a titan of an artist whose pianism spanned the second half of the 20th century with extraordinary intellectual and technical command. So many of us have had our listening, in one way or another, shaped by his unequivocal and personal approach to the great classical and romantic repertoire. Alfred was also a man of enormous warmth, kindness and grace, and a twinkling humour that came across in his conversation – and which is also brilliantly and wittily evident in his writings.
'Alfred visited the Academy on numerous occasions for concerts, and as a visiting professor for classes and interviews. He was father of our professor, the cellist Adrian Brendel – to whom we offer our deepest condolences – and a great friend to Dame Myra Hess Chair and Head of Piano, Joanna MacGregor, and visiting professor Dame Imogen Cooper for whom Alfred was both mentor, pianist-partner and a long-standing friend.
'I feel especially lucky that we were able to celebrate Alfred nearly a year ago in our Graduation when we conferred upon him the special title of Honorary Vice-President. As we reminded him in his citation last year, he once wrote: ‘We are all of Liszt’s line. He created the type we aspire to: that of the universal performer of great stature. To him we owe our aural imagination and our technique’. Many would say that this applies equally to Alfred.’