Wilhelm Kempff

[Opus106]

Get ready for the big one, folks! (Well, almost.)

[mc ukrneal]

Get ready for the big one, folks! (Well, almost.)

Ooh - that could be one of the more interesting artist boxes....

[George]

Ooh - that could be one of the more interesting artist boxes....

Really? Haven't just about all of his solo recordings on those labels been issued on CD, with most still in print?

[Todd]

It's not complete.  It has only one of the LvB cycles, and it lacks the early (1930s) LvB recordings.  Somewhat disppointing, really.  I have around 50 discs worth of Kempff, only a few of which are live or bootleg, so a few things are missing.  And where are the few 50s Decca Schubert recordings?

[George]

... it lacks the early (1930s) LvB recordings.

I thought that too, but aren't those on Polydor?

[Todd]

I thought that too, but aren't those on Polydor?

Not sure, but Polydor merged with Phonogram into PolyGram, which got gobbled up by UMG.  Or something like that.  I don't know which entity has the rights to 1930s DG recordings, as they don't seem to be reissued terribly frequently. 

[Opus106]

It's not complete.  It has only one of the LvB cycles, and it lacks the early (1930s) LvB recordings.  Somewhat disppointing, really.  I have around 50 discs worth of Kempff, only a few of which are live or bootleg, so a few things are missing.  And where are the few 50s Decca Schubert recordings?

Where did you find the track-list?

[Todd]

Where did you find the track-list?

More of a disc grouping - HMV Japan.

[DieNacht]

If anyone has suggestions regarding a "Top 5 Kempff Recordings" I´d be interested to hear about it.

Have got

the Beethoven DG stereo 32 sonatas & 5 cti, the decca mono "Hammerklavier", the DG schubert sonatas box + the impromptus,
the DG Bach Goldberg Variations, the DG Mozart sonatas K310 & 331,

but I haven´t heard his Schumann, for instance.

The DG "Hammerklavier" and "Emperor Concerto" are the two that really stand out to me, but I remember some of the Schubert
sonatas as being good as well, though it´s been some time since I heard them.

A lot of his old LPs are often available here at very low prices :-).

[bwv 1080]

If anyone has suggestions regarding a "Top 5 Kempff Recordings" I´d be interested to hear about it.

Gotta have Schumann in there

[Todd]

Top five, mostly boxes.  Narrowing it down further would be difficult.

[DieNacht]

Quick responses here :-) ... I didn´t clarify perhaps, but was thinking especially about his performances of individual works,
exemplifying him at his best ?

[Todd]

Much harder for individual recordings/performances, but some are, in no particular order:

LvB - Op 28 (stereo)
LvB - Emperor (w/ Ozawa)
Schubert - D894
Brahms - Op 116
LvB - G Major Concerto (w/ Leitner)

[DieNacht]

The Ozawa 1966 Beethoven 5th Concerto was totally unknown to me, must be the youngest Ozawa on record I´ve heard of also;
he can be very good (like his DG Ravel, for instance).

The Beethoven 4th (originally together with no.2) with Leitner was my introduction to that work, and one does tend to return to it regularly.

[Mandryka]

If anyone has suggestions regarding a "Top 5 Kempff Recordings" I´d be interested to hear about it.

Have got

the Beethoven DG stereo 32 sonatas & 5 cti, the decca mono "Hammerklavier", the DG schubert sonatas box + the impromptus,
the DG Bach Goldberg Variations, the DG Mozart sonatas K310 & 331,

but I haven´t heard his Schumann, for instance.

The DG "Hammerklavier" and "Emperor Concerto" are the two that really stand out to me, but I remember some of the Schubert
sonatas as being good as well, though it´s been some time since I heard them.

A lot of his old LPs are often available here at very low prices :-).

Schubert Drei Klavierstucke, live on BBC Legends
Brahms Sonata 3 live on BBC Legends
Brahms op 116 - 119, the mono performances on his Great Pianists Edition
Liszt Legends
Beethoven Kreutzer Sonata with Kulenkampff

Has anyone heard his Beethoven bagatelles?

[DieNacht]

These are unknown issues to me !

There seems to be agreement concerning Kempff´s recordings of Brahms late piano pieces here ...

It turns out there´s quite a selection on you-t of this which can be quickly checked out, likewise the "Kreutzer" is there:
judging from the introduction, Kempff is really engaged here, and the piano sound is quite good for 1936.

[Mandryka]

There seems to be agreement concerning Kempff´s recordings of Brahms late piano pieces here ...

Yes but IMO the DG is inferior to the earlier recordings.

[George]

His Bach Goldbergs and his Beethoven Bagatelles and Op. 110 (stereo) are wonderful!

[Coopmv]

His Bach Goldbergs and his Beethoven Bagatelles and Op. 110 (stereo) are wonderful!

[Mandryka]

The first of these contains Brahms Op 118 recording he made for the West German Radio in Cologne, the second the same music recorded for Decca from 7 years earlier.

What a difference.  The  G minor Ballade (Op 118/3) is an elephant's dance for Decca , a pogo dance in the radio recording. He's consistently more inspired -- with the possible exception of Op 118/6 (which is excellent, but it's excellent for Decca  too.) The romanze (which happens to be one of my most favourite pieces of music in the world) has a really whimsical free quality which reminds me a bit of Gieseking and maybe Tiegermann (from memory that, I could be wrong about them.) Much much less so for Decca. Sound is considerably more truthful in 1960 than in 1953. He's  nearly always significantly faster in Cologne.

But most interesting is the way his conception of the music seems to me to have changed as he aged. In 1953 Kempff's late  Brahms is quite a cliché at times. You know, the old guy crying into his beer as he reflects, autumnally , on years forever gone. Not so at all in 1960, where he's a much more complicated  fellow.


Seems like Kempff, or at least Kempff's Brahms, youthened. Like Peter Pan.