In memoriam Alfred Brendel

Bechstein Centres in

Cologne, Düsseldorf and Hamburg

open their doors and magnificent concert grand pianos

for three exceptionally beautiful piano recitals with

Magdalene Ho

In 2023, at the age of just 19, Magdalene Ho, a pianist born in the

USA and trained in her native Malaysia and in the UK (including with

Patsy Toh, a student of Myra Hess and Alfred Cortot and widow of Fou

Ts’ong!), won the legendary Clara Haskil Competition in Vevey,

Switzerland. Since then, this young pianist has undergone a quiet but

steady musical development, which has repeatedly confirmed her

exceptional position among the many, many young pianists of her

generation.

In September 2025, Magdalene Ho came to Germany at the invitation

of the Keyboard Charitable Trust for three piano recitals to pay tribute

to the great pianist Alfred Brendel, who had served on the board of the

Keyboard Charitable Trust until his death in June of that year. This

series of three piano recitals, which, incidentally, were given

exclusively on Bechstein grand pianos in three Bechstein Centres, was

the first of a total of three tributes to Alfred Brendel, which will

continue in January and April 2026 resp.

Alfred Brendel, a student of the legendary Edwin Fischer, among

others, was one of the great pianists of the 20th century, an important

music writer and essayist, and a member of the board of the

international piano foundation The Keyboard Charitable Trust from its

founding in 1991 until his death. Throughout his life, Alfred Brendel was

committed to absolute fidelity to the works he performed and

despised any mannerisms on stage or at the piano. On these three

evenings, The Keyboard Charitbale Trust commemorated its long-

standing trustee and friend with great gratitude and admiration. The

beautiful programme selected by Magdalene Ho was one that was

entirely in keeping with the spirit of the great master.

All three evenings of this first series of memorial concerts for Alfred

Brendel took place, delightfully, at three Bechstein Centres in

Cologne, Düsseldorf and Hamburg. The C. Bechstein piano factory

(founded in Berlin in 1853, the same year as the Blüthner piano

company in Germany and Steinway & Sons in the USA) has been

attracting increasing attention in recent years, mainly due to the

outstanding quality of its extremely melodious, beautiful-sounding

instruments. It is no coincidence that, after more than 50 years, a

Bechstein grand piano was once again played at the legendary Chopin

Competition in Warsaw in 2025, and that the Beethovenhalle in Bonn

was reopened in the same year after more than ten years of renovation

with two Bechstein grand pianos. Among others, Alfred Brendel’s

student and protégé Kit Armstrong performed on a Bechstein grand

piano for the occasion. The Keyboard Charitable Trust is grateful that

its cooperation with its partner C. Bechstein is expanding and

becoming increasingly established.

Magdalene Ho is an introverted, quiet young lady, but a concert

pianist with a deep core of enormous musical strength and pianistic

perfection. She was able to demonstrate this to overwhelmed

audiences on all three evenings. A year ago, she already celebrated a

great success for The Keyboard Charitable Trust in the sold-outLaeiszhalle

chamber music hall in Hamburg as part of the Tea Time

Classics series.

For her recitals in honour of Alfred Brendel, she had selected only

works by Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert, a rather rare

programme choice these days, as quite many young pianists often tend

to choose large, romantic works, which they actually play in

competitions, in order to focus attention on their own skills, virtuosity

and drama. Not so Magdalene Ho: she places the skill of the

composers, their greatness and immortality, at the centre of musical

attention.

The Bechstein evenings in Cologne and Hamburg were sold out. The

still young series in Düsseldorf had many empty seats, but this did not

detract from the intensity of the music. Magdalene Ho had chosen

three works: The Sonata No. 12, A flat major, Op. 26 (1800/1801) and

the six Bagatelles, Op. 126 (1824) by Ludwig van Beethoven,

followed after the interval by the grand, rarely played Sonata G major,

D 894 (1826), by Franz Schubert.

Beethoven’s Sonata No. 12 in A flat major, Op. 26, was played with

indescribable tonal quality from the very beginning, thanks in no

small part to the exquisitely intoned and tuned Bechstein grand piano

with its wide range of registers and rich overtones. Magdalene Ho

began the sonata in a thoughtful manner, but never lingered; on the

contrary, she always moved forward. Her expression is never kitschy,

and she counterbalances her thoughtful nature with a perfect

understanding of Beethoven’s intentions, combined with absolute

control through her overwhelming, far-reaching and highly developed

pianistic skills. Her great sense of rhythm also serves her well, as does her

wonderful, colourful sonority, which was particularly evident in

the scherzo of the second movement. The funeral march was solemn,

but never weak, with many rays of light. One had the impression that

Beethoven, when composing this movement (the sonata was written in

1801), could already foresee his later life, especially since he was

already feeling the first signs of his deafness at that time. The Allegro

of the fourth movement was full of grace, full of inner light, with

great, immense control of the rhythm, never standing still.

Beethoven wrote the Six Bagatelles, Op. 126, 24 years later, when he

had already been completely deaf for five years. That alone is

unimaginable. The opening of the 1st bagatelle was blessed and

heartfelt, its cantabile character reminiscent of the first movement of

the sonata played earlier. Magdalene Ho presented the 2nd bagatelle

with a strong, majestic beginning, with singing beauty in her

magnificent hands. This bagatelle contains many surprises, and

Magdalene Ho’s curiosity seemed to express her search for the

meaning of each element of this bagatelle. The 3rd bagatelle was like

an elegy, almost as if approaching heaven’s gate, magical piano

playing! Each of these little works of art became an individual

performance, yet they were all connected to form a great whole. The

4th bagatelle, Presto, began like a rock “n” roll piece, a powerful

dance, almost trance-like spheres that were hard to imagine. But then

Magdalene Ho played the 5th bagatelle: pure beauty, beauty turned

into music, seemed to flow endlessly from Magdalene Ho’s hands,

everything unimaginable seemed to pour out of this Bechstein grand

piano. An energy that seemed to express Beethoven’s feelings

about most personal matters. Perhaps this bagatelle suited Magdalene

Ho best in its poetic and personal depth; it was a gracious,

unpretentious performance of the rarest kind. Then, at the end, a wildoutburst in

the 6th bagatelle: magnificent cascades of sound, followed

by a quiet stroll through musical worlds, as if a long journey had

finally come to an end, but not only Andante amabile, but also Con

Moto! Beethoven kept moving forward, he went his own way, no

matter what happened. Magdalene Ho was able to show this very, very

convincingly. Magnificent.

After the interval, Magdalene Ho treated us to her interpretation of the

great late Sonata No. 18 in G major, D 894, composed by the young

Franz Schubert in 1826, two years before his early death at the age of

31. This sonata is rarely played, and it is understandable why. It is not

only the difficult technical challenge, but above all the profound

philosophical questions that enable only a few pianists to play this

sonata at the level heard this evening.

Magdalene Ho opened the 1st movement like a prayer, it was a

cautious glimpse into eternity, from which a distant dream seemed to

develop in the modulation that followed. A short waltz sequence

sounded like a reminiscence of Schubert’s earlier works. Despite the

cantabile, rather introspective character, Magdalene Ho was able to

maintain the tension of this work throughout with her superb control.

It was such an idiomatic interpretation of Schubert that every return of

the waltz was a pure delight. In the second part of this movement, the

architectural features built up into a cathedral with catacombs, in

which the waltz suddenly resounded again. Another great strength of

the pianist Magdalene Ho became clear here: in addition to her

magnificent tonal qualities, she always manages to clearly carve out

inner voices and lines. Schubert’s life was painful, and the dance of

life is also full of pain. But then: waltzes and waltzes and waltzes! It

was deeply moving.In the 2nd movement, Andante, another prayer sounded,

no, more like

a chorale, perhaps sung during a lonely walk. Magdalene Ho’s piano

playing remained incredibly intimate in this situation, full of

melancholy felt with her own heart. The simplicity of her

interpretation was what was truly great. At the end, the dark visions in

Magdalene Ho’s truly visionary piano playing – Schubert’s realisation

that his imminent departure would be inevitable. Like echoes from

afar, like a last thought returning once more, Magdalene Ho brought

out every figure in this movement. It is her highest art, the highest

clarity of sound, and another aspect stood out in particular: Magdalene

Ho never exaggerates. She never displays mannerisms for her own

sake. Furthermore, her pedal technique, something that is hardly ever

mentioned in reviews. Magdalene Ho likes to use the pedal sparingly

and with the utmost taste, and she showed us all that pedal technique

is by no means less important than the playing of the hands.

The minuet of the 3rd movement began powerfully, in fact it was

another waltz, as in the first movement. Truly Mephistophelean,

sombre, with rays of light full of grace, but only in a few places.

Again and again the gloom returned, the relentless pulse of inevitable

fate always resounding, but always accompanied by the hope of

redemption. The trio brought almost celestial sounds, as if the angels

were already preparing a cheerful welcome for Franz Schubert: Come

here, it is good here! Then a hesitation: should I go? Must I go? Must

it be? Ah, yes! One last painful moment, but then the clear decision.

In the 4th and final movement of this great sonata, the Rondo

Allegretto, pure joy resounds, a dance in which we all feel bliss and

peace. All this is thanks to Magdalene Ho, who in this movement,with her great

sense of rhythm and sensitivity, almost invites us all to

a contredance: joy upon joy! Once again, a brief hesitation, but

ultimately what remains is endless beauty in endless dancing, and we

all dance the rondo. Thank you, Franz Schubert, thank you, Alfred

Brendel, thank you, C. Bechstein, thank you, Magdalene Ho, who, at

the end, in the final modulation, with insanely beautiful glissandi,

once again briefly allows the relentless to rise before a great, calming

silence ends this evening. Finally, as an encore, the fifth Bagatelle

once again. Standing ovations.

I can and need say nothing more about Magdalene Ho. I do not need

to recommend her. When Magdalene Ho plays, as a critic once wrote

about the great pianist Grete Sultan, she recommends herself.

Moritz von Bredow, Hamburg/Germany