Alfred Brendel, one of the most revered and important pianists of the 20th and early 21st centuries, whose probing intellect and poetic touch brought a new depth to the works of Beethoven, Schubert and Mozart, has died in London at the age of 94.

Austrian by birth but European by sensibility, Brendel was as much a philosopher as a pianist. For over six decades, he stood at the summit of classical music, not only as a performer but as an essayist and thinker. His recordings and writings exercised a powerful influence on audiences and musicians alike. To many, he was not simply a pianist, but a custodian of the great classical traditions — reverent, analytical, and deeply expressive.

Alfred Brendel. Photo courtesy Decca Classics

Born on January 5, 1931, in Wiesenberg, Czechoslovakia (now Loučná nad Desnou, Czech Republic), Brendel grew up in Zagreb, Yugoslavia, and later in Austria. Growing up in an unmusical family, he received no formal conservatory education. Neither was he regarded as a piano prodigy.

The young Alfred’s first encounter with ‘serious’ music was at a hotel managed by his father on the Adriatic island of Krk. “I operated...