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Product Description
CD Description
Wilhelm Kempff’s unsurpassed Liszt recordings have been unavailable on CD for many years. Now they return as part of the 'Originals' series for Liszt Year 2011.
"In the early days of LP Kempff made a famous record of Liszt piano music for Decca. [...] He plays much the same programme here [...] and he has lost none of his magic and sense of poetry in the intervening years. Few listeners will fail to respond to these evocative and masterly performances. The recording is excellent." Penguin Guide***
"In the early days of LP Kempff made a famous record of Liszt piano music for Decca. [...] He plays much the same programme here [...] and he has lost none of his magic and sense of poetry in the intervening years. Few listeners will fail to respond to these evocative and masterly performances. The recording is excellent." Penguin Guide***
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
19 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
It is good to be able to welcome the return of these incomparable performances back to the catalogue. When the original LP was first issued, the Gramophone reviewer commented that, while he had long admired Liszt, he had never before actually loved him until he heard this recording. Indeed, anyone who is suspicious of Liszt should hear it, and will hopefully undergo a similar 'conversion'. This is I think the most desirable single Liszt CD ever, played with Kempff's customary humanity, fluency and insight.
While one might regret the absence of the Dante Sonata, the only piece from the Second Book of the Annees de Pelerinage not included here, the first three pieces [starting with an incomparable Sposalizio] and the three Petrarch Sonetti are complemented by the ravishing Gondeliera from Venezia e Napoli, and the Deux Legendes - St. Francis of Assisi preaching to the Birds, and St. Francis of Paola walking on the Water. Here again, Kempff turns pieces that are sometimes presented as vehicles for flashy display into warmly human and musical experiences. By no account to be missed by anyone who cares for great piano music and great playing.
While one might regret the absence of the Dante Sonata, the only piece from the Second Book of the Annees de Pelerinage not included here, the first three pieces [starting with an incomparable Sposalizio] and the three Petrarch Sonetti are complemented by the ravishing Gondeliera from Venezia e Napoli, and the Deux Legendes - St. Francis of Assisi preaching to the Birds, and St. Francis of Paola walking on the Water. Here again, Kempff turns pieces that are sometimes presented as vehicles for flashy display into warmly human and musical experiences. By no account to be missed by anyone who cares for great piano music and great playing.
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
These recordings, taped in 1974 and now reissued for the composer 200th birth anniversary (1811-2011), are simply stunning. The terms used in the liner notes are absolutely appropriate to describe how Wilhelm Kempff interpreted the Liszt composition in this disc: unforced lyricism, reflective eloquence, serene nobility, quite joy, unalloyed naturalness, nothing is exaggerated, yet nothing is bland, an overwhelming impression of a sublime combination of simplicity and serenity. The remastered sound is natural and warm with the spacious ambiance of the recording location (Beethovensaal in Hanover) beautifully captured. If you love classical piano you simply can't miss this release, even if Liszt is not your preferred composer. Totally recommended!
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
As someone relatively new to classical music my testimony can easily be disregarded as being the ramblings of the keen amateur. Even so, I'd just like to put on record that this disc is a very superior listening experience; firstly as performance and secondly in terms of sonic reproduction. Kempff was an old man when he recorded these works, but it doesn't show. His playing technique is of the highest order, always at the service of the music and always looking to communicate the many different shades of emotion and experience that Liszt was trying to convey in these works. His ability to shape phrases is refined and unshowy, thoughtful, perhaps even a tad introverted but that means that we more easily come admire his conception of the works as a whole rather then as a series of individual virtuoso passage work.
A desert island disc?- yes indeed. Having previously thought(proof of my ignorance I guess) that Liszt's music was essentially of the barnstorming,shallow virtuoso showcase variety, I am more then happy to have my ideas adjusted by this set. This is simply beautiful music, beautifully played and recorded.Any newcomer to Liszt could do well to start here.
Liszt: Piano Works - Les Années de Pèlerinage: Italie (excerpts) / Deux Légendes
A desert island disc?- yes indeed. Having previously thought(proof of my ignorance I guess) that Liszt's music was essentially of the barnstorming,shallow virtuoso showcase variety, I am more then happy to have my ideas adjusted by this set. This is simply beautiful music, beautifully played and recorded.Any newcomer to Liszt could do well to start here.
Liszt: Piano Works - Les Années de Pèlerinage: Italie (excerpts) / Deux Légendes
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