Well, an odd thing about Brendel (great as he was in my not-so-humble opinion) is that he is often below the radar in classical music talk. I've just watched an interesting YouTube presented by Dave Hurwirtz of Classics Today who pursued that same theme about a year ago when Brendel was still alive. I always watch Dave's multifarious YouTubes with a somewhat sceptical eye (I find him to be a bit capricious and often a bit superficial), but something chimed with me with his Brendel one. It's true that Brendel is far less talked about than some of his stellar contemporaries. Oddly, despite my hero worship of him, I've just realised that I haven't got a single recording of his. I wondered why I'd never splashed the cash in that direction...

It could be that he stiffened up in the recording studio (don't we all...), losing that spontaneity and humour that is there in spades in his live performances. Whilst technically brilliant, his studio recordings can come across as a bit too serious, even a bit didactic. But we can bypass all that these days on YouTube by seeking out his live performances Chalk and cheese. It's good to seek out his live Diabelli Variations recordings. Which is what I'm inspired to right now!