Wilhelm Kempff

Kempff was born in Jüterbog, Germany and studied in Berlin and Potsdam. He toured widely throughout contintental Europe and much of the rest of the world, but did not make his first London appearance until 1951, and did not play in New York until 1964. He died in Positano, Italy.

Truly one of the greatest pianists of 20th century and the "Poet of the piano", Kempff is celebrated today for his recordings of Ludwig van Beethoven, Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms, Franz Schubert, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Johann Sebastian Bach, Franz Liszt and Frederic Chopin. He had a long recording career with Deutsche Grammophon spanning sixty years.

Kempff's recordings of the complete Beethoven and Schubert piano sonatas are regarded as some of the greatest ever made. His recordings of Schumann, Brahms, Liszt and Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23 (with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra and Ferdinand Leitner) are also critically acclaimed.

Kempff also played chamber music with Yehudi Menuhin and Pierre Fournier among others. Particularly famous are the recordings of the complete Beethoven sonatas for violin and piano with Menuhin. He was also one of the most celebrated teachers of his time.

A lesser known activity of Kempff was also composing. He composed for almost every genre. His second symphony was premiered in 1929 at the Gewandhaus, Leipzig by Wilhelm Furtwängler. His Bach transcriptions remain popular today.

Recordings

With Kempff, the young firebrand (listen to the Beethoven Sonatas of the 1920s on Dante HPC 109!) gradually gave way to the thoughtful, dry, and professorial pianist. His early recordings are full of slips and faults but brimming with enthusiasm and discovery. The late recordings of the same works, however, sound sensible, measured, and correct. Between these two phases, Kempff recorded a complete set of Beethoven Sonatas in the 1950s (on DG), which stylistically falls between the two periods. In excellent monophonic sound, it is preferable to the 1964 stereo version issued on DG 429306 or 453724.

Kempff was among the first to record the complete Sonatas of Franz Schubert (DG 423496), long before these works became popular. His tendency to under-romanticize these works, although controversial, is quite effective in Schubert. Less successful is the Schumann on DG 435045. His Brahms short pieces on DG 437249 and DG 437374 are beautiful and idiomatic. Various Bach works and transcriptions on DG 439672 are appealing. Kempff's Bach is always solid, weighty, and profound.

Referenced By