On ClassicsToday: Wilhelm Kempff's Schubert, neither Titanic nor Teutonic
Kempff’s Schubert in Blu-ray Pure Audio: A Reference Revisited
by Jens F. Laurson
Schubert—almost as much as Beethoven—had been a staple of pianist Wilhelm Kempff’s repertoire from the beginning to the end of his career, including his final public recital where he played (apart from Beethoven, of course) Schubert’s Sonata D. 845. And if his set of Schubert... Continue Reading [Insider content]
2 comments:
As a graduate student in the early 1970s, researching my doctoral dissertatin the history of the Lutheran Reformation in Württemberg, I heard a recital by Wilhelm Kempf in the Stuttgart L:iederhalle - I still remember how I joined about 100 of his admirers who thronged to the front of the auditorium and stood around the stage while he played at least a dozen encores. What I distinctly remember is how he held his hands so quietly on the keyboard, that they scarcely seemed to move There was only this quiet, silent artist at the keyboard and the wonderful calm and tranquil music pouring out from the piano. It was an experience that I have never forgotten. Dr. Louis Reith in Seward, Nebraska
Thanks so much, Mr. Reith, for sharing that experience. I can just about (though not quite, of course) imagine what that might have been like. Kempff may not be a musician of or for superlatives, but he certainly was a very special artist!
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