BBC Legends 3: Pianist Wilhelm Kempff

Pianist Wilhelm Kempff is another artist that had appeared on a previous BBC Legends release. Indeed, on the very first release he filled a single CD with what could be called a “middle period” piano sonata by Franz Schubert (D. 566 in E minor), Robert Schumann’s Opus 22 (second) sonata in G minor, and a collection of shorter pieces by Johannes Brahms. On the new collection Schubert dominates the album with the D. 625 sonata in F minor, the three pieces collected as D. 946, and two of the four impromptus collected in D. 899.

That collection appears to account for the second half of a recital that Kempff performed at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on June 5, 1969. The first half offered a coupling of Johann Sebastian Bach (the BWV 903 chromatic fantasia and fugue in D minor) with Ludwig van Beethoven (the two-movement Opus 54 sonata in F major). It is important to bear in mind that, in 1969, the very idea of a “historically-informed performance” was just beginning to take shape. Kempff’s performance practices, on the other hand, were “informed” almost entirely by nineteenth-century traditions.

Some readers may be aware that I have taken an interest in the reissue of recordings that Kempff made during the first half of the twentieth century. I have done my best to account for these offerings in terms of the context in which they were performed, rather than the context in which we listen today. To be fair, my knowledge of the recordings that Kempff made during the second half of the twentieth century is limited, but it is clear that he was not interested in a historically-informed perspective.

Wilhelm Kempff on the cover of the CD release of his recording of the complete piano sonatas by Ludwig van Beethoven (from the Amazon.com Web page for the album)

On the other hand, Kempff deserves recognition as one of the earliest pianists to provide a recorded account of all of Schubert’s solo piano sonatas. This was the “sweet spot” of his repertoire, and there is much to be gained in listening to the Schubert selections on this new release. It is also worth noting that Kempff lived until May 23, 1991; and he tended to be as consistent in his approaches during the second half of the twentieth century has he had been during the first. Thus, to some extent, his “complete sonatas” collections of not only Schubert but also Beethoven reflect an “old school” aesthetic. Nevertheless, he is sufficiently true to that aesthetic to allow for engaging listening experiences, whether or not they are “historically appropriate!”