Brendel's Last Note, With Ringtone: The Farewell Concert at Musikverein

Last month Opera Chic had the privilege to be at la Scala for Alfred Brendel's concert, part of his last tour.

Last night @ the Musikverein in Vienna, Brendel gave his very last performance in front of half the Austrian government (the only question is, what did the other half have to do better than that?); and how cool that 77-year-old maestro chose the "Jeunehomme" for the night's program. It's my party, he seemed to say, I'll play what I like. I'll play what moves me because this is my night. Which is incredibly touching and incredibly cool, OC thinks.

Guardian editor and Brendel fanboi Alan Rusbridger was there to report.

And the very end of the night, a surprise:

The hall rose to thunder out such respect that Brendel returned to play the haunting arrangement by Busoni of Bach's chorale Nun Komm, der Heiden Heiland. The orchestra and audience listened in total silence, then demanded more. Brendel shrugged. He waved a coquettish goodbye. He crossed his arms over his heart and bowed. After half a dozen returns, he played – for one last time – Liszt's Au Lac de Wallenstadt. In an irony that would not have escaped him (he has written a poem on the subject), he played to the accompaniment of a ghostly mobile phone ringtone for a few bars.

A torch has been passed to a new generation of musicians -- the ringtone programmers.

(Much more Brendel stuff at Fred Child's Fredlines, with music files and YouTube)