Search - Kempff, Biret :: Italian Suite / Piano Sonatas / Transcriptions

Disappointing

06/27/1999

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I've been looking for a CD of Kempff's own recording of his transcriptions ever since I got rid of my LP collection. It was one of my favorite piano records. I finally decided I'd buy the above CD, based partially on the other review. Big mistake. If this is supposed to be a tribute to Kempff, it certainly doesn't sound that way. Biret's renditions are cold, dull, and usually too fast. Luckily, on a trip to Germany, I found the Kempff version. Don't buy the Biret disc. Instead, have someone in Germany send you the CD of the original (why Amazon doesn't stock it instead of this thing, I don't know). It's on Deutsche Grammophon's Galleria series, and the catalog number is 439 108-2."

A lovely recording

Gregory W. Payne | Connecticut, USA | 02/18/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The performance here of the Handel "Menuet in g minor" is worth the purchase price of the disk. It's a transcendentally simple piece--most of it simple passage work--but the result is very spiritual. If you know and love Dinu Lipati's recordings of Bach chorales transcribed for piano, you will like this disk."