He is on a flying visit home. It would have been easier to fly direct, but his daughter is sitting her A-levels and he has been persuaded to spend one night in London. I must not come too early - he is practising. And he must be out of the house by three o'clock sharp to make the plane. There is just time to talk.
Some soloists relax a little as they approach old age.
Brendel is hardly easing up, though it cannot be for want of laurels on which to rest. Last year saw him performing in 53 towns and cities from Tokyo to Minnesota, from New York to Plush, Dorset. Eight years ago we could not have had this conversation. I went to see several doctors, physiotherapists, chiropractors and got more and more desperate because they did not seem to know what they were talking about, until about a year later I found a doctor in Munich who specialises in sports injuries. He seems to have helped me.