Wilhelm Kempff: The Decca Legacy (Boxset)

The Decca legacy of WILHELM KEMPFF, one of the last century’s greatest keyboard poets.rWilhelm Kempff is known, with good reason, as a Beethoven interpreter of sublime simplicity, with several cycles of the concertos and sonatas to his credit, all of them recorded for DG. However, he began recording as early as 1918 and made records for Polydor before the war, as well as for Decca during the 1950s. While his DG recordings have rarely been out of the catalogue, his legacy on other labels has never been so comprehensively documented as it is on this newly remastered set from Eloquence.rIn the booklet essay for the box, Alfred Brendel explains how he particularly esteems Kempff’s Decca recordings, for the piano sound captured at the company’s studios in West Hampstead in London, and also how he prizes the pianist’s recordings of Liszt above all: ‘truly legendary’. He recalls seeing Kempff play Schubert’s Sonatas D. 845, which Decca also captured, as an inspiration for his own subsequent dedication to the composer’s piano sonatas. A pair of Mozart concertos, KV 219 and KV 450, finds Kempff’s phrasing at its most limpid and apparently effortless. His Decca discography concluded in fine style in 1958 with sessions which yielded three LP albums of Chopin.rSeveral of these recordings have previously appeared in previous sets dedicated to Kempff but this is the first complete survey of his Decca legacy. Combined with the rare pre-war recordings, new remasterings and detailed editorial support (including a discographical essay by Michael Gray and one by the late Michael Steinberg), this set of Wilhelm Kempff will attract the attention of all pianophiles. ‘When he is at his best, he plays more beautifully than any of us.’ (Alfred Brendel)CD 1J.S. Bach; Handel; Couperin; Rameau; Beethoven; BrahmsrCD 2J.S. BACH Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue, BWV 903; Chorale-Preludes (arr. Kempff) CD 3MOZART Piano Concertos Nos. 9 & 15Karl MünchingerrCD 4SCHUBERT Piano Sonatas Nos. 16 & 21rCD 5SCHUMANN Papillons; Arabeske; Piano ConcertoJosef KripsrCD 6CHOPIN Piano Sonata No. 2; Impromptus; Berceuse; Barcarolle; Nocturne Op. 9 No. 3; Scherzo No. 3rCD 7CHOPIN Piano Sonata No. 3; Ballade No. 3; Andante spianato et Grande polonaise brillante; Fantaisie; Polonaise-FantaisierCD 8LISZT Années de pèlerinage (excerpts); Deux LégendesrCD 9LISZT Piano Concerto Nos. 1 & 2Anatole FistoularirCD 10BRAHMS Rhapsodies, Op. 79; Intermezzi, Op. 117; Klavierstücke, Op. 118rCD 11BRAHMS Ballades, Op. 10; Klavierstücke, Op. 76; Rhapsodies, Op. 79; Intermezzi, Op. 117rCD 12BRAHMS Fantasias, Op. 116; Klavierstücke, Op. 119rCD 13BEETHOVEN Cello Sonata, Op. 5 No. 1 Pablo CasalsCello Sonata, Op. 69Paul Grümmer Violin Sonata Op. 47 ‘Kreutzer’Georg Kulenkampff