Wilhelm Kempff 3 (III) (Great Pianists of the Century series) - Beethoven / Brahms / Faure / Mozart /Schubert

Wilhelm Kempff (Artist), Beethoven (Artist), Brahms (Artist), Faure (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 20, 1999)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Philips
• ASIN: B00000JNQ6
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #157,826 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Piano Concerto No. 8 in C major ('Lützow') K. 246: Allegro aperto

2. Piano Concerto No. 8 in C major ('Lützow') K. 246: Andante

3. Piano Concerto No. 8 in C major ('Lützow') K. 246: Rondeau, Tempo di Menuetto

4. Variations (10) on 'Unser dummer Pöbel meint,' for piano in G major, K. 455: Thema. Allegretto

5. Variations (10) on 'Unser dummer Pöbel meint,' for piano in G major, K. 455: Variation 1

6. Variations (10) on 'Unser dummer Pöbel meint,' for piano in G major, K. 455: Variation 2

7. Variations (10) on 'Unser dummer Pöbel meint,' for piano in G major, K. 455: Variation 3

8. Variations (10) on 'Unser dummer Pöbel meint,' for piano in G major, K. 455: Variation 4

9. Variations (10) on 'Unser dummer Pöbel meint,' for piano in G major, K. 455: Variation 5

10. Variations (10) on 'Unser dummer Pöbel meint,' for piano in G major, K. 455: Variation 6

See all 20 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Piano Sonata No. 15 in C major ('Relique'), D. 840: Moderato

2. Piano Sonata No. 15 in C major ('Relique'), D. 840: Andante

3. Rondo for piano in C major, Op. 51/1

4. Piano Sonata No. 2 in A major, Op. 2/2: Allegro vivace

5. Piano Sonata No. 2 in A major, Op. 2/2: Largo appassionato

6. Piano Sonata No. 2 in A major, Op. 2/2: Scherzo, Allegretto

7. Piano Sonata No. 2 in A major, Op. 2/2: Rondo, Grazioso

8. Romances (3) for piano, Op. 28: Romance in B flat minor, Sehr markirt

9. Romances (3) for piano, Op. 28: Romance in F sharp major, Einfach

10. Romances (3) for piano, Op. 28: Romance in B major, Sehr markirt

See all 11 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Wilhelm Kempff, who died in 1991 at the age of 95, was among the last musical emissaries of German Romanticism. Raised in the rich cultural and intellectual soil of Wilhelmine Prussia, he studied philosophy and music history at the University of Berlin while taking a diploma in piano at that city's Hochschule für Musik. As an interpreter, Kempff saw music in context. He could relate the emotional world of a Beethoven or Schubert sonata to feelings expressed in Goethe's poetry, or explain its structure using analogies drawn from classical architecture, as easily and convincingly as he could phrase a singing line at the piano.

Beauty of tone, clarity of texture, and graceful phrasing were the hallmarks of his playing, and they are much in evidence in the recordings gathered here. As in volume I and volume II of the Great Pianists series devoted to Kempff's artistry, the selection of repertoire for this two-CD set was made by Alfred Brendel, and it shows Kempff for the most part in splendid form. The Mozart concerto is vibrantly played, the two Beethoven sonatas and rondo dispatched with energy and the kind of spiritual elation that comes only from a deep affinity with the music. There is evidence aplenty of Kempff's extraordinary ear--as in the opening solo passage of the Mozart concerto, when he corrects for a slightly too-strong high C in the very next figure. He brings remarkable inner-voice detail to the Brahms and the Schumann, without sacrificing thrust in the former or a singing line in the latter.

Of special note here are the Mozart variations, recorded live in 1956 and showing a much more spontaneous side to Kempff than we are used to from his studio recordings, and the Fauré nocturne, an exquisite cameo in the French style, recorded in 1945 by the preeminent German pianist of the postwar period. --Ted Libbey

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Naturalness, spontaneity and exactitude!, July 30, 2005

By 

Hiram Gomez Pardo (Valencia, Venezuela) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wilhelm Kempff 3 (III) (Great Pianists of the Century series) - Beethoven / Brahms / Faure / Mozart /Schubert (Audio CD)

If you have ever heard of any other pianist who has made to sing the piano as Kempff did it, please let me know it. The captivating and spelling idiosyncrasy of a musician who is always seeking to express what lies bellow the surface and the will to discover and recreate the meaning of any musical work. As Wilhelm Fürtwangler stated once: " I actually the true interpreter is who identifies himself with the work and who improvises it all over again...I try to communicate my vision rather than my will and I prefer the reasons of the heart than all others...When technique becomes the only purpose, we are in fact losing the sense of the form".
And that's why the interpretation was not merely a matter of execution for Kempff. W.K. has said of the piano: "No other musical instrument is as wonderful as the piano. You are alone when you play." "The record is a creative product, a little piece of eternal life"
His honesty, artistic commitment and wisdom are not exhibited as additional ornaments of his playing; but under the service of the performing. His lyricism is not preconceived, it comes from a natural consequence of his personal vision.
Here you have, briefly some of the reasons that convince me Kempff musicality are so hard to find. I wish to conclude with a brilliant observation of Fürtwangler: "The art of fixing without congealing whilst respecting all hazard, this is what fascinates me. Interpreting is to conceive a music in its superior coherence."