Search - Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz [Vienna] Schubert :: Bach, Beethoven, Schubert

This live recital in Queen Elizabeth Hall from 1969 shows Wilhelm Kempff at his magical best. Some of us can remember concerts when the German pianist's technique was stretched to its limit. There are no such moments here. The music--by Bach, Beethoven, and Schubert--is not technically demanding, and it permits Kempff to demonstrate the qualities that made him a great pianist: delicacy of color, subtlety of phrasing, deep reserves of lyricism, and a profound grasp of structure. Kempff, who was also an organist, had a keen sense for counterpoint. He combines this ability to illuminate several voices with a beautiful legato and sense of line for one of the most satisfying performances on disc of Bach's Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue. Kempff's way with Beethoven was airy, graceful, and intimate, and it is perfectly suited to the composer's two-movement Sonata No. 22. He fills the stormy octaves of the opening movement with whimsy and humor and makes the perpetual motion of the finale buzz with irrepressible impudence and energy. Kempff's Schubert may have been even more successful than his Beethoven. His interpretations of the composer's Sonata in F Minor (D 625), of the late Three Piano Pieces (D 946), and of the G-flat and A-flat Impromptus (D 899) quietly pierce the heart with suggestive power and depth of feeling. --Stephen Wigler