October 2009 Archives

With the help of systems staff, we've finally been able to perform a minor (or perhaps major) Mendel miracle here -- audio reserves are now available in Blackboard by clicking the Audio Reserve link within the course. There will no longer be a need for an extra password. Enrolled students (and, of course, the faculty member) can now access all print, visual, and audio reserve materials in one place for a course -- and have a total picture of what is available on reserve in all formats for the course as well. Students can access fall 2009 course reserves from the new Mendel Music Library home page in the Quick Links box.

A special thanks to Mendel's e-reserves supervisor Dan Gallagher for shepherding this enhancement through a long path of many months to completion this week.

Cheers,

Darwin

Cosponsored by the Spencer Trask Fund, Lewis Center for the Arts, Department of Music, Princeton University Concerts, and the Department of German

Time and Location: 8:00 p.m. in Richardson Auditorium, Alexander Hall

The lecture sets out to show that in musical performances the perception of character and atmosphere is no less important than that of form and structure. The belief that the structure of a work automatically reveals its character is a fallacy. The notion of character appears in 18th-century treatises on interpretation as well as in writing on aesthetics where it is first discussed at the time when Beethoven's sonatas begin to appear. Czerny's comments on Beethoven's piano works are full of references to character. The pianist's task becomes related to that of a character actor identifying with different roles, with an ever-widening awareness of the staggering emotional and psychological variety great music has to offer. Mr. Brendel will play a number of musical examples during the lecture.

Alfred Brendel's place among the greatest musicians of the 20th and 21st centuries is assured. Renowned for his masterly interpretations of the works of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, and Liszt, he is one of the indisputable authorities in musical life today and one of the very few living pianists whose name alone guarantees a sell-out anywhere in the world he chooses to play.
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To access Alfred Brendel's recordings owned by Princeton, click here. We need to enhance our holdings of Brendel on CD--stay tuned!

Darwin