Cat. No.: 480 1288
Barcode: 0028948012886
Label: Decca CD
Release Date: March

Wilhelm Kempff | Für Elise – Wilhelm Kempff Encores

ARTISTS

Wilhelm Kempff, piano

TRACK LISTING

BACH: Chromatic Fantasy & Fugue, BWV 903
BACH: Nun komm der Heiden Heiland, BWV 659
BACH: Jesu, joy of man's desiring, BWV 147
BACH: Herzlich tut mich velangen, BWV 727
BACH: In dulci jubilo, BWV 729
BACH: Nun freut euch liebe Christen g'mein, BWV 734
BACH: Siciliano, BWV1031
BACH: Wachet Auf , BWV 140
HANDEL: Harmonious Blacksmith; Minuet from Harpsichord Suite No.1
COUPERIN: The bells of Cythera
RAMEAU: Le Rappel des oiseaux
BEETHOVEN: Bagatelle in C minor WoO 52
BEETHOVEN: Bagatelle in C minor WoO59: Fur Elise

Kempff’s Baroque pedigree stemmed from the influence of his father, also named Wilhelm Kempff, and his grandfather Cantor Friedrick Kempff, both of whom were organists, and 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 from the great German violinist Joseph Joachim, the nine-year-old Kempff was awarded two scholarships at the Berlin Hochschule: one in composition with Robert Kahn, the other studying piano with Heinrich Barth, who also taught Arthur Rubinstein.

While most of Wilhelm Kempff’s recordings were made for Deutsche Grammophon, his early Decca LPs and EPs are collector’s items. Here issued internationally on CD for the first time is the LP of his Bach recital coupled with a delicious record of miniatures by Couperin, Rameau and Beethoven, including the latter’s ubiquitous Für Elise. In his liner notes, Jed Distler compares Kempff’s arrangements of Bach with those of Busoni, and his performances with those of Hess and others. ‘Für Elise gently soars from Kempff’s fingers in full-throated, legato arcs that might convince you that the piano has lungs in addition to hammers and strings,’ he writes, and concludes, ‘The warm, naturally balanced and timbrally true sonic image typical of Decca’s piano recordings of this vintage only enhance Kempff’s singular artistry. Whatever one makes of his style, his spirit defines authenticity.’

‘…excellently recorded programme of arrangements made by Kempff himself…’ Gramophone

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Cat. No.: 476 9913
Barcode: 0028947699132
Label: Decca CD
Release Date: March

Wilhelm Kempff | SCHUBERT: Sonata in A minor, D. 845; Sonata in B flat, D. 960

ARTISTS

Wilhelm Kempff, piano

TRACK LISTING

SCHUBERT Sonata in A minor, D. 845
SCHUBERT Sonata in B flat, D. 960

‘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 Pianists of the 20th Century’ series. The B flat Sonata was recorded three years earlier and has never previously been published on CD. In contrast with today’s bountiful D. 960 discography, Schubert’s last sonata was a relative rarity on disc when this recording first appeared, and it met with critical enthusiasm. ‘Out of many lovely things in (the) first movement,’ wrote the late and long-time Gramophone critic Alec Robertson, ‘I will single out Kempff’s playing of the second tune (F sharp minor) in which he achieves a perfect balance between the tenor and treble registers, and his instinctive feeling for the magical music hovering between D minor and B flat major, which proceeds the recapitulation – one of the supreme things in the whole of piano literature.’

In the 1000th issue of Gramophone (December 2005) the magazine asked its panel of reviewers to choose a single artist they’d like to hear perform just for them. Ivan March chose Wilhelm Kempff, and in particular, this 1950 Decca recording of Schubert’s B flat sonata: ‘Long ago, in my teens, I discovered the inspirational playing of Wilhelm Kempff. It is he I would invite to my command performance and it is Schubert I would ask him to play – the last, wonderful Sonata in B flat, for me the peak of 19th-century piano music. I heard it first on a Decca mono LP, elysian in his hands. But that early pressing had an irritating background swish. I tried to replace it but it appeared that all copies carried the same fault; it was some time before I secured a perfect pressing. Many years later I had afternoon tea with the illustrious Alec Robertson, whose enthusiastic review in The Gramophone had drawn me to the record. I gently took him to task about not mentioning the swish in his review. His eyes twinkled. “Ivan,” he said, “the playing was so beautiful that I didn’t hear the swish”.’

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Cat. No.: 480 2071
Barcode: 0028948020713
Label: Decca 2CD
Release Date: March

Lamar Crowson | CLEMENTI: Piano Sonatas

ARTISTS

Lamar Crowson, piano

TRACK LISTING

CLEMENTI: Piano Sonatas
Sonata in G minor, Op. 50 No. 3
Sonata in A major, Op. 33 No.1
Sonata in C major, Op. 33 No. 3
Sonata in F sharp minor, Op. 25 No. 5
Sonata in B minor, Op. 40 No. 2
Sonata in A major, Op. 25 No. 4
Sonata in G minor, Op. 7 No. 3
Sonata in B flat major, Op. 24 No. 2

Mozart dubbed him ‘mere mechanicus’ and with that musical curse, Clementi was, for long, doomed to piano student exercises and the occasional sonata movement for examinations. Yet, he had a remarkable career in London, where he settled for most of his life and was fiscally in far better shape than Mozart, with whom he once competed. One of the first pianists to change the Clementi trend was American-born Lamar Crowson, best known as pianist with The Melos Ensemble of London. In 1968 he recorded two LPs of Clementi Sonatas for L’Oiseau-Lyre and this is their first release on CD. In more recent times, several present-day pianists have championed his sonatas.

‘ Lamar Crowson plays splendidly. He is accurate, fleet of finger, as expressive as the music allows and always decisive … Clementi clearly has a powerful advocate in Mr. Crowson.’
Gramophone

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Cat. No.: 480 1309
Barcode: 0028948013098
Label: Decca CD
Release Date: March

Vladimir Ashkenazy
BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonatas Nos. 7, 8 ‘Pathétique’ and 23 ‘Appassionata’

ARTISTS

Vladimir Ashkenazy, piano

TRACK LISTING

BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata No. 7 in D major, Op. 10 No. 3
BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13 ‘Pathétique’
BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Op. 57 ‘Appassionata’
[The First Recordings]

TBC Confidence, energy, brashness, terseness and humour: these five words succinctly characterize Beethoven’s early piano sonatas. However, with Op. 10 No. 3’s D minor Largo e mesto, a new quality – soul-bearing depth – comes into play – and settles in for the remainder of Beethoven’s creative life. During the late 1970s, when VladimirAshkenazy’s integral Beethoven sonata project for Decca neared completion, the pianist decided to remake several works that had been recorded and released earlier on. As a result, the cycle included Ashkenazy’s 1978 version of the ‘Appassionata’, 1979 version of Op. 10 No. 3 and 1980 version of the ‘Pathétique’, but not the earlier traversals reissued here for the first time on CD. These earlier readings – Op. 10 No. 3 and the ‘Appassionata’ were recorded in 1970 and the ‘Pathétique’ in 1972 – can be more impetuous, with greater rhetorical freedom and more liberal inflections. Their kinetic power and dynamism are hard to resist.

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Cat. No.: 480 1304
Barcode: 0028948013043
Label: Decca CD
Release Date: March

Vladimir Ashkenazy
BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonatas Nos. 21 ‘Waldstein’ and  29 ‘Hammerklavier’

ARTISTS

Vladimir Ashkenazy, piano

TRACK LISTING

BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata No. 21 in C major, Op. 53 ‘Waldstein’
BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata No. 29, Op. 106 ‘Hammerklavier’
[The First Recordings]

As both composer and performing virtuoso, the piano was central to Beethoven’s life. However, his relationship with the instrument turned out to be a love-hate affair, and few, if any models satisfied him. He wrote to the piano manufacturer Johann Streicher that ‘the pianoforte is still the least studied and least developed of all instruments’. On the other hand, could the pianos of Beethoven’s time withstand the elemental power and dynamism of his home grown keyboard technique and passionate, uncouth performing style? By all accounts Beethoven took to the piano as a tornado descends upon a modest frame house, frequently leaving behind a trail of broken strings and stuck hammers, and shaking up his colleagues in the wake.

The two sonatas featured on this release charted unprecedented paths of sonority and virtuosity, although the musical and pianistic aims radically differ. Ashkenazy re-recorded them both, the ‘Hammerklavier’ for his complete Beethoven sonata cycle, and the ‘Waldstein’ as a digital remake for a separate CD. The rare and much sought-after 1967 recording of the ‘Hammerklavier’ – Ashkenazy’s first of any Beethoven sonata for Decca – is sharply delineated and full of tensile energy, the fugal finale’s gnarlier sequences more incisively articulated than his later remake.

‘the most totally satisfying pianist of his generation. Even in this immense and sprawling
score he succeeds (as few have done) in making every note [of the ‘Hammerklavier’] a moment of passage, every phrase an urging toward the next’ Alan Rich, New York magazine

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