Wilhelm Kempff
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Biography
With his precise, melodic style and the subtle ways he held back notes to create suspense, Wilhelm Kempff was one of the first concert pianists to record complete works by the great German composers and became a hugely popular and influential giant of the classical music world.
Born in Potsdam, Germany Kempff's childhood was defined by music and religion, with his father, grandfather and later his brother all working as organists and musical directors at protestant churches. After picking up the basics from his family, he started studying music and composition at the age of nine at the Hochschule fur Musik in Berlin and had private lessons with the great Italian composer Ferruccio Busoni who taught him in detail the transcriptions of Bach.
In his twenties he headed out on tours of Europe, South America and Japan (where he had an island named in his honour) and he became musical director at the Wurttemberg Conservatory in Stuttgart and after the Second World War he returned to Paris, making his debut in London in 1951. With his first acoustic recordings as a soloist in 1920, it was his masterful renditions of Beethoven and Schubert's complete sonatas that became landmark pieces of the era and helped make his albums for Deutsche Grammophon highly sought after.
He was also admired for his lyrical, rhythmic take on Bach cantatas and his interpretation of romantic composers like Schubert and Schumann and he later worked with chamber orchestras led by Yehudi Menuhin, Pierre Fournier and Paul Grummer. Setting up a home and music school in Positano, Southern Italy, he passed on his ideas about the importance of spirituality and technique to new generations and continued performing until 1981 before he began suffering with Parkinson's Disease. He died at home in Positano in 1991 aged 95 from a stroke, but his music courses were continued by proteges Gerhard Oppitz and John O'Conor.
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Albums
Wilhelm Kempff
Liszt: Années de pèlerinage; Légendes (Wilhelm Kempff: Complete Decca Recordings, Vol. 8)
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Wilhelm Kempff
Liszt: Années de Pèlerinage, Italie (Excerpts); Gondoliera; Deux Légendes
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Top Tracks
- Track Popularity
- Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 2 in A Major, S. 125 - IV. Allegro animato featuring London Symphony Orchestra
- Four Impromptus, Op. 90: II. Allegro
- Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major, Op. 58: I. Allegro moderato featuring Paul van Kempen
- Four Impromptus, Op. 90: I. Allegro Molto
- Piano Sonata No.22 in F, Op.54: 1. In Tempo d'un Menuetto
- Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 32 in C Minor, Op. 111 - I. Maestoso - Allegro con brio ed appassionato
- 4 Ballades, Op.10: No.3 in B minor
- Piano Sonata No.27 in E minor, Op.90: 1. Mit Lebhaftigkeit und durchaus mit Empfindung und Ausdruck
- Beethoven: Violin Sonata No. 10 in G Major, Op. 96 - II. Adagio espressivo by Yehudi Menuhin
- Beethoven: Violin Sonata No. 10 in G Major, Op. 96 - I. Allegro moderato by Yehudi Menuhin
- Andante favori in F, WoO 57: Andante grazioso con moto
- Beethoven: Bagatelle In A Minor, WoO 59 -"Für Elise" - Poco moto
- Rondo in G, Op.51, No.2: Andante cantabile e grazioso
- Four Impromptus, Op. 142: IV. Allegro Scherzando
- Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 18 in E-Flat Major, Op. 31 No. 3 "The Hunt" - IV. Presto con fuoco by Ludwig van Beethoven
- Prelude and Fugue in C sharp minor (WTK, Book I, No.4), BWV 849: Prelude by Johann Sebastian Bach
- Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 27 No. 2 "Moonlight": III. Presto agitato by Ludwig van Beethoven
- Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 23 in F Minor, Op. 57 "Appassionata" - III. Allegro ma non troppo by ãã¼ãã¼ã´ã§ã³
- Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 23 in F Minor, Op. 57 "Appassionata" - I. Allegro assai
- Beethoven: Cello Sonata No. 3 in A Major, Op. 69 - II. Scherzo - Allegro molto featuring Pierre Fournier
- Fantasie in C Major, Op. 17: II. Mässig, durchaus energisch - Etwas bewegter - Viel bewegter
- Beethoven: Cello Sonata No. 3 in A Major, Op. 69 - III. Adagio cantabile - Allegro vivace featuring Pierre Fournier
- 6 Piano Pieces, Op. 118: 5. Romance in F Major
- Rondo in G Major, Op. 51, No. 2
