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64 of 65 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Kapell's Discovered Treasures, May 13, 2008
"Willy was beyond a doubt the greatest pianistic talent this country [USA] has ever produced." Leon Fleischer
America has seen its share of pianistic careers cut short for varying reasons: whether due to burnout (Van Cliburn), hand injuries (Leon Fleischer, Gary Graffman), or other ailments (Byron Janis). Even Murray Perahia, arguably the best American pianist active today, has battled stress related hand problems over the last 15 years. No piano career ended more tragically than William Kapell's, who died in a plane crash in 1953.
Kapell was returning home from a tour of Australia when his plane crashed into a mountain just south of Half Moon Bay, California. Twenty years ago, an off the air recording of Chopin's B-flat Minor Sonata from that last tour emerged, and rumors have floated for years about other Australian Kapell recordings. This two CD set contains those performances, the last recorded examples of Kapell's work.
Much has been written about the "new" Kapell that emerged in the last two years of his life, one less focused on keyboard pyrotechnics and gravitating toward the traditional German masters and a more contemplative style. Kapell's performance of the Bach Suite points toward the future in that his approach has similarities to Glenn Gould's, minus the Canadian pianist's insufferable vocalizing. The Mozart Sonata is played with clarity, tasteful phrasing, and a discrete rhythmic snap. It is poles apart from the Rococo, porcelain doll approach which was already falling out of favor.
It's neither inaccurate nor demeaning of Kapell to note that the pianist was somewhat under the spell of Vladimir Horowitz. Nearly every American pianist of the time was. (Kapell wanted to study with Horowitz, but the elder pianist demured, stating there was nothing he could teach Kapell.) Both the Prokofiev Seventh Sonata and Chopin Scherzo have Horowitzian touches, including interlocking octaves at the end of the Scherzo.
Whatever his similarities with Horowitz, Kapell was his own man in Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. The pianist plays the score, which was seldom performed as a piano piece at the time, pretty much as written. His performance is easily on par with Richter's famed Sofia account.
It is not Horowitz I think of when hearing Kapell's performance of the Rachmaninoff Third Concerto, but the composer. Kapell has that same aristocratic, yet restless approach. Unfortunately, Kapell employs the cuts in the score used by the composer. It's intriguing to think what a 40 year old Kapell, (circa 1962) would have done with this music.
Recorded off the air by an amateur using a home disc cutting machine, the sound is problematic. There is a great deal of static, clicks, and pops, as well as what sounds like cross talk with another radio station (audible during quieter pieces). Signal to noise ratio is poor, and a few moments have had to be patched from other Kapell recordings. Kapell fans will not be fazed by this, but those who insist on perfect sonics may find their enjoyment of these remarkable performances impaired.
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24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Perfect Classical Piano, May 10, 2008
I happened to catch All Things Considered (Saturday 10 May 2008). They had a discussion of William Kapell (William Kapell recordings turn up down under -- [...]). I have loved classical music for decades but I had never heard of William Kapell. NPR played portions of Kapell's recordings and they can be heard at indicated web site. I have to say the music was astounding. This album represents music played on Kapell's final tour (before he was killed in a plane crash. I'm not easy to impress but Kapell impresses and that's understatement. Some of the music is scratchy (for example, Mozart Sonta in B Flat for example) but this in no way detracts from the presentation (think of listening to classical music on old 78 rpm recordings). Kapell plays classical piano the way piano should be played but rarely is. Don't take my word for it: Listen to the NPR discussion. One music critic called Kapell's play about as close to perfect piano as is humanly possible to achieve; no arguments from me...WOW!
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Journey Back in Time, June 30, 2008
When I first heard that these recording by William Kapell were available I thought they might have been part of an archive found by an Australian Broadcast Corporation. The reality was a bit disappointing in that Kapell's final performances were preserved in an off-the-air recording made by a music enthusiast. I had to conclude that the quality of the recordings could only be abysmal, despite that we owe a debt of gratitude that these performances were preserved.
I was curious, however, and purchased the records and, yes, the sound played over our stereo system reminded me of the worst recordings from the 1930's. I did find that listening through headphones made the sound more bearable. There also were some gaps in three of the recordings that were filled by using other earlier recordings by William Kapell: a gap at the end of the third movement of the Third Piano Concerto, the closing bars of Gates of Kiev and the first movement of the Bach Suite.
The performances are wonderful and demonstrate Kapell's range of expression from the delicacy of Mozart to the dissonances of Prokofiev. The Mussorgsky is magical; the subtle shadings of the Suite bergamasque are marvelous to hear. The Chopin, particularly the Scherzo, is played with great passion and energy. The second disc hold music Kapell had never recorded: Debussy's Suite bergamasque, Chopin's Barcarolle and Scherzo No. 1, and Prokofiev's Sonata No. 7. When one considers that Kapell could be alive today the shortness of his time is brought all the more into focus and the music on these discs becomes all the more precious and remarkable. It is difficult to assign stars to this collection. The sound may be poor but the performances are priceless. So the reason I have assigned 5 stars is due to the importance of the final performances of William Kapell.
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