An internationally known, acclaimed, and respected classical pianist, Alfred Brendel was born on January 5, 1931, in Wiesemberg, Moravia (now the Czech Republic), spending his childhood in Yugoslavia and Austria. Far from a child prodigy, he started piano lessons at the age of six, and although he studied at Graz Conservatory, his formal training was effectively over by the time he was 16 years old. A year later he gave his first public piano recital. Brendel's first recording was released in 1972, and he has since recorded all of Beethoven's piano works (in a series for Vox Records) as well as piano pieces by Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, Liszt, Brahms, and others in a long career that has generated an extensive discography, most of it for Philips Recordings. ~ Steve Leggett, All Music Guide