Alfred Brendel’s concert career ends on a high note

Amid shouts of “bravo” and thundering applause, Alfred Brendel bid farewell to the concert hall this week, ending a six-decade career as one of the world’s greatest pianists.

Accompanied by the Vienna Philharmonic, Brendel performed Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 9 -- known as “Jeunehomme” (“Young Man”) or “Jenamy” -- at the Austrian capital’s prestigious Musikverein. He played two encores.

Brendel appeared energetic and entranced by the music, clearly captivating his audience in the packed Golden Auditorium. His adieu Thursday night, coming just weeks before his 78th birthday, concluded a career that began rather unconventionally.

Born Jan. 5, 1931, in what is today the Czech Republic, he spent his childhood traveling through Austria and Yugoslavia. He took his first piano lessons at age 6 and had a series of teachers as his family moved around, but the little formal training he had ended when he was 16.

“Being self-taught, I learned to distrust anything I hadn’t figured out myself,” Brendel says on his website. “A teacher can be too influential.”

To many, Brendel is one of a kind.

“After so many years of being at the top of his profession, it is hard to imagine musical life without Alfred’s unique presence,” Charles Mackerras, who conducted the Vienna Philharmonic for Brendel’s farewell performance, wrote in the concert program.

Brendel will continue to appear in public to lecture on music and to give poetry readings.