Alfred Brendel has always been one of my favourite pianists. I hardly ever missed any of his recitals when I lived in London, and when he plays in Boston it is always a special occasion for me. Last night was no exception. I feel he is one of the greatest musicians and one of the best interpreters of Schubert's piano music ever.

His concert started with two sonatas by Haydn: Hob.XVI:32 in B minor and Hob.XVI:42 in D major. I had never heard these before, and don't often listen to or play Haydn's music myself. Needless to say, he played them beautifully. I wish though he had chosen something that was better known by the audience.

The next piece was the very well known Mozart Sonata in C major, K330. The thing that impresses me about his Mozart playing is that he plays it very simply without any unnecessary gimmicks or embellishments, and lets the music speak for itself.

The highlight of the evening was Schubert's last sonata, D960, in B flat major. Schubert wrote many wonderful songs, and most of his instrumental and orchestral compositions are like songs. Although the piano is a percussive instrument, Alfred Brendel's performances are the closest thing to having someone sing the music. It was sheer delight.

The sonata begins with a quiet hymn-like melody, interrupted by a trill in the bass, like a sinister, distant rumbling followed by a pause of silence. Schubert was very ill during the time he composed this sonata, and one wonders whether he knew he was going to die soon (he died in 1828 only 31 years old) and was trying to express this in the music. The second movement is quite tragic and slow. It has a middle section in B flat major that sounds rather like the hymn "Onward Christian Soldiers" and is closely related to the beginning theme in the first movement. the somber theme then returns, and, when one thinks that the movement is about to end, Schubert surprises the audience by repeating the melody again in an completely unexpected key. What was Schubert trying to express here? Perhaps he was showing that he would "soldier on" with his music as long as possible in spite of his illness?

The last two movements are much more cheerful, reminiscent of children singing, dancing and playing merrily. Schubert must have had quite a sense of humour, and Brendel showed this a number of times in this performance.

After a standing ovation, the encore was also a real treat. He played the lovely Impromptu in G flat major Op 90. This is truly a "song without words", typical of Schubert, with the beautiful melody at the top with a rippling broken chord accompaniment below.

Alfred Brendel has an uncanny sense of rhythm, part playing, shaping of phrases and harmonic subtleties. Few piansist can draw such an expressive, beautiful singing tone out of the piano.

I went back stage to meet him and to get his autograph. There was a large crowd of fans already waiting to see him. I first met Alfred Brendel about 20 years ago at the Royal Festival Hall in London during the interval of Claudio Arrau's recital. He was sitting in the balcony (the best place to hear and where most of the famous pianists sat when they went to hear each other play) a few rows in front of me with pianists Imogen Cooper, Murray Perahia and Mitsuko Uchida. He hadn't changed too much and still had the strong Austrian accent. I told him about the first time I heard him at the "Toc H Music Club" at the Haberdasher's School in Mill Hill, London. That was about 25 years ago and he remembered playing there.

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