Alfred Brendel Calls Time

Alfred Brendel Calls Time

Last November, the Guardian newspaper contained an article. This was the headline.

“ Alfred Brendel, piano maestro, calls time on concert career.”

What does it mean?

Well, you may already know about Alfred Brendel. He is a pianist, or a“ piano maestro” as the Guardian headline calls him. He is famous for his playing of works by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert. We shall talk more about him in a minute.

But what does“ call time” mean? Until about30 years ago, there were strict laws in Britain about when pubs could open. Generally, all pubs had to close at10.30 in the evening, and everyone had to stop drinking and leave the pub at that time. Shortly before10.30 pm, the landlord of the pub used to ring a bell, and call out“ Time, gentlemen, please!” or something like that. So, “ to call time” means to announce that you will soon close something, or soon finish something.

Lets go back to the newspaper headline. “ Alfred Brendel, piano maestro, calls time on his concert career”. It means that Alfred Brendel has announced that his career as a concert pianist will soon come to an end. In other words, he has said that he is going to retire.

There is another idiom with a similar meaning– “ to call it a day”. Imagine that you have been working all day on a project for school or college. It is now the evening and you are tired. Yes, there are some more things you could do, but you decide to stop now and go to bed. You“ call it a day”. Alfred Brendel has decided, at the age of77, to“ call it a day” too.

Alfred Brendel is a remarkable man. He was born in what is now the Czech Republic in1931. His family were not musical, and he had little formal training on the piano. Nonetheless, he made a successful career as a pianist from the1950 s. Since the1970 s, he has lived in Britain. He is not only a famous pianist, he also writes about music, and writes poetry, both in English and in German. When he retires, at the end of this year, he wants to spend more time writing and teaching.

For the last15 years, Alfred Brendel has come regularly to Birmingham to play in Symphony Hall. Last night, I attended his last concert here. Every ticket was sold, every seat in the hall was occupied. When he played, the audience was completely silent. As we say in English, you could have heard a pin drop. Alfred Brendel’s playing is very personal and very direct. It is as if he was in your sitting room, playing specially for you. At the end of the concert, we gave him a standing ovation, and he gave us two encores. It was a memorable occasion, though also a rather sad occasion.

To end the podcast, here is Alfred Brendel playing some music by Schubert. May he have a long and happy retirement.