Schumann’s fleeting ‘Arabeske’ is here coupled with two of the composer’s most passionate, autobiographical musings (‘Kreisleriana’ and ‘Fantasie’) in performances that range from quiet dignity to storminess from Wilhelm Kempff.
This is simply sublime! Kempff’s transcriptions of Bach, Handel and Gluck aren’t that often heard, yet his way with such favourites as ‘Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring’, ‘Nun komm’ der Heiden Heiland’, ‘In dulci jubilo’, two pieces from Gluck’s ‘Orfeo’ and the unforgettable Handel G minor Minuet are ravishing! In addition, Kempff performs two great […]
Wilhelm Kempff’s credentials as an organist and composer lend a naturalness and flexibility to these performances of some of Bach’s best known Preludes and Fugues. There is also the very forward-looking, almost improvisatory piece of program music – the ‘Capriccio’ and a wonderful performance of the great ‘D major Toccata and Fugue’.
Kempff’s Baroque pedigree stemmed from the influence of his father also named Wilhelm Kempff and his grandfather Cantor Friedrick Kempff. Both were organists who taught the budding prodigy much of the organ’s core repertoire. In fact, Kempff’s youthful debut as an organist took place before his first recital as a pianist in 1907. With help […]
‘When he is at his best he plays more beautifully than any of us,’ Alfred Brendel told William Steinberg and described Kempff as ‘an Aeolian harp, ever ready to respond to whatever interesting wind blew his way’. Brendel chose Kempff’s 1953 Decca recording of Schubert’s A minor Sonata, D.845, for inclusion in Philips’ monumental ‘Great […]
‘When he is at his best he plays more beautifully than any of us’ wrote Alfred Brendel on the pianism of Wilhelm Kempff. Eloquence is proud to announce a mini-edition devoted to some of the rarer recordings of Wilhelm Kempff, born in 1895 at Jüterbog, the son of a church organist. By 1916, Kempff was […]
‘When he is at his best he plays more beautifully than any of us’ wrote Alfred Brendel on the pianism of Wilhelm Kempff. Eloquence is proud to announce a mini-edition devoted to some of the rarer recordings of Wilhelm Kempff, born in 1895 at Jüterbog, the son of a church organist. By 1916, Kempff was […]
‘When he is at his best he plays more beautifully than any of us’ wrote Alfred Brendel on the pianism of Wilhelm Kempff. Eloquence is proud to announce a mini-edition devoted to some of the rarer recordings of Wilhelm Kempff, born in 1895 at Jüterbog, the son of a church organist. By 1916, Kempff was […]
‘When he is at his best he plays more beautifully than any of us’ wrote Alfred Brendel on the pianism of Wilhelm Kempff. Eloquence is proud to announce a mini-edition devoted to some of the rarer recordings of Wilhelm Kempff, born in 1895 at Jüterbog, the son of a church organist. By 1916, Kempff was […]
‘When he is at his best he plays more beautifully than any of us’ wrote Alfred Brendel on the pianism of Wilhelm Kempff. Eloquence is proud to announce a mini-edition devoted to some of the rarer recordings of Wilhelm Kempff, born in 1895 at Jüterbog, the son of a church organist. By 1916, Kempff was […]
‘When he is at his best he plays more beautifully than any of us’ wrote Alfred Brendel on the pianism of Wilhelm Kempff. Eloquence is proud to announce a mini-edition devoted to some of the rarer recordings of Wilhelm Kempff, born in 1895 at Jüterbog, the son of a church organist. By 1916, Kempff was […]
‘When he is at his best he plays more beautifully than any of us’ wrote Alfred Brendel on the pianism of Wilhelm Kempff. Eloquence is proud to announce a mini-edition devoted to some of the rarer recordings of Wilhelm Kempff, born in 1895 at Jüterbog, the son of a church organist. By 1916 Kempff was […]
