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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Wilhelm Kempff believed Schumann's composition suffered as his madness encroached, and he did not therefore play all his works, but this four-CD set, Piano Works, feels admirably comprehensive. Dating from this German master's later period--he went on playing until he was 85--it is as majestic a testament to his genius as the Beethoven sonatas which he recorded three times during his life. Kempff, born in 1895, had a direct link with the Romantic era: he studied with Busoni, and his principal teacher, Barth, had studied with Bulow--who was married to the daughter of Liszt. For Kempff, a recording was "a little piece of eternal life" and the record-player "a mirror for the ear": no pianist ever took the process more seriously. Which is one reason why this box is so treasurable. His hallmark is a glowing cantabile--no doubt attributable to the fact that he began his career as a cathedral organist--and he seems blissfully unbothered about virtuoso point-scoring. The Études symphoniques open with passionate languor; Kreisleriana are full of charm; and the Humoreske--which he waited decades to be ready to play--are intensely vivid . --Michael Church
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Back in the 1970s, I bought Kempff's Schumann discs as they came out on LP. At that time the music was new to me, and I found Kempff's playing opened up a whole new world. Since then, much water has flowed under the bridge. But I still return to these classic performances with the greatest pleasure.
Kempff's view of Schumann is very balanced and centred, but (alas) some mistakenly think it's boring and lacking in passion and poetic insight. Even back in the '70s there were dissenting voices - those who felt his performances were not extrovert enough; the passion of youth viewed through the dulled prism of age and experience, so-to-speak. While it's true that Kempff's Schumann is less wild and crazy than many, he understands the inner message of the music like few others.
Kempff's greatest gift as an interpreter is his ability to render Schumann's (potentially) episodic flights of fantasy so that they register in a wholly coherent manner. With him, the music's inner narrative unfolds with a cohesive integrity that probably only Richter can equal. When I first heard these Kempff recordings 30 plus years ago, this aspect was not immediately obvious. Having few other performances to compare, I took this cohesiveness for granted.
Then, some years later, I recall trying to find an acceptable performance of Davidsbundlertanze on CD (Kempff's recordings having yet to be issued), and being shocked and dismayed by how 'fractured' and lacking in cohesion they all sounded. Davidsbundlertanze is perhaps the most difficult of Schumann's piano works to bring off convincingly. Yet Kempff effortlessly pulls each disparate strand together, and makes the music sound as though cut from a single piece of cloth.
The same is true of the Humoreske - and Kreisleriana. The latter is mercilessly mauled by most pianists in a vain attempt to squeeze out every drop of emotion, and in the process the structure of the work all but falls apart. Not Kempff; he holds everything together by not giving way to surface exaggeration and superficial point-making. The ghostly final pages are wonderfully atmospheric and evocative.
In this respect Kempff still has no equal, and that's why he remains my first choice for Schumann! Those who see Schumann's music (especially the works for piano) as something of a rollercoaster experience may find Kempff's performances lacking in thrills and spills. But, Schumann is more than a whiteknuckle ride. In Kempff, you have an interpreter who understands the inner Schumann; one who knows the way. So listen without prejudice and let him guide you!
J M Hughes
Kempff's view of Schumann is very balanced and centred, but (alas) some mistakenly think it's boring and lacking in passion and poetic insight. Even back in the '70s there were dissenting voices - those who felt his performances were not extrovert enough; the passion of youth viewed through the dulled prism of age and experience, so-to-speak. While it's true that Kempff's Schumann is less wild and crazy than many, he understands the inner message of the music like few others.
Kempff's greatest gift as an interpreter is his ability to render Schumann's (potentially) episodic flights of fantasy so that they register in a wholly coherent manner. With him, the music's inner narrative unfolds with a cohesive integrity that probably only Richter can equal. When I first heard these Kempff recordings 30 plus years ago, this aspect was not immediately obvious. Having few other performances to compare, I took this cohesiveness for granted.
Then, some years later, I recall trying to find an acceptable performance of Davidsbundlertanze on CD (Kempff's recordings having yet to be issued), and being shocked and dismayed by how 'fractured' and lacking in cohesion they all sounded. Davidsbundlertanze is perhaps the most difficult of Schumann's piano works to bring off convincingly. Yet Kempff effortlessly pulls each disparate strand together, and makes the music sound as though cut from a single piece of cloth.
The same is true of the Humoreske - and Kreisleriana. The latter is mercilessly mauled by most pianists in a vain attempt to squeeze out every drop of emotion, and in the process the structure of the work all but falls apart. Not Kempff; he holds everything together by not giving way to surface exaggeration and superficial point-making. The ghostly final pages are wonderfully atmospheric and evocative.
In this respect Kempff still has no equal, and that's why he remains my first choice for Schumann! Those who see Schumann's music (especially the works for piano) as something of a rollercoaster experience may find Kempff's performances lacking in thrills and spills. But, Schumann is more than a whiteknuckle ride. In Kempff, you have an interpreter who understands the inner Schumann; one who knows the way. So listen without prejudice and let him guide you!
J M Hughes
10 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Mixed feelings listening to this almost full piano works by Schumann. I found one again what I was always embarrassed with Kempff, namely the lack of left hand. I mean it sorely lacking in presence and expression. A brief comparison with Yves Nat in the sonatas by Beethoven is striking on this point. Note that the metallic sound of DG record does not promote the pianist. Speech is very clear, transparent, light, but lacks the weight and meaning. This way of playing can give miracles in some parts where the dominant right hand, as Bird as prophet from Forest Scenes (as in a wonderful concerto No. 23 by Mozart, with F. Leitner). But more often it generates here a sense of superficiality and lack of commitment. As if the artist was careful to burn the wings. We can talk, with respect to the Master, of a "classic" approach or even baroque - Bach is very close in this reading almost objectively, drypoint, almost repetitive at times. But Schumann asks another vocabulary, another syntax. The last variation of Kreisleriana becomes haunting, black and white, with nothing of Schumann madness and Romantic imagination. Where are color schemes and fantastic evocations by Horowitz in the same piece? (listen to his left hand which knows to create all the atmosphere). We miss the almost mystical investment of Pogorelitch in Symphonic Variations, which here seem perfectly tasteless, and the mastered transports of Argerich or Pollini, essential to clarify the speech of Schumann and to fully express this music in bipolar mood.
1 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I love Schumann piano music, but Kempff is probably the least well-suited pianist for it. It all sounds very earthbound, with contrasts smoothed out and none of the feverish spontaneity the music cries out for. For a complete set, you'd do much better with Eric le Sage on Alpha or Jorg Demus. Avoid, unless you're a Kempff fan.
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