Wilhelm Kempff - Franz Schubert: The Piano Sonatas '1988

Tracks list

Tracklist

CD1
01. Piano Sonata No.21 In B Flat, D.960-1. Molto Moderato
02. Piano Sonata No.21 In B Flat, D.960-2. Andante Sostenuto
03. Piano Sonata No.21 In B Flat, D.960-3. Scherzo (Allegro Vivace Con
Delicatezza)
04. Piano Sonata No.21 In B Flat, D.960-4. Allegro Ma Non Troppo
05. Piano Sonata No.3 In E, D. 459-1. Allegro Moderato
06. Piano Sonata No.3 In E, D. 459-2. Scherzo (Allegro)
07. Piano Sonata No.3 In E, D. 459-3. Adagio
08. Piano Sonata No.3 In E, D. 459-4. Scherzo Con Trio (Allegro)
09. Piano Sonata No.3 In E, D. 459-5. Allegro Patetico

CD2
01. Piano Sonata No.19 In C Minor, D.958-1. Allegro
02. Piano Sonata No.19 In C Minor, D.958-2. Adagio
03. Piano Sonata No.19 In C Minor, D.958-3. Menuetto (Allegro)
04. Piano Sonata No.19 In C Minor, D.958-4. Allegro
05. Piano Sonata No.20 In A, D.959-1. Allegro
06. Piano Sonata No.20 In A, D.959-2. Andantino
07. Piano Sonata No.20 In A, D.959-3. Scherzo (Allegro Vivace)
08. Piano Sonata No.20 In A, D.959-4. Rondo (Allegretto)

CD3
01. Piano Sonata No.18 In G, D.894-1. Molto Moderato E Cantabile
02. Piano Sonata No.18 In G, D.894-2. Andante
03. Piano Sonata No.18 In G, D.894-3. Menuetto (Allegro Moderato)
04. Piano Sonata No.18 In G, D.894-4. Allegretto
05. Piano Sonata No.17 In D, D.850-1. Allegro Vivace
06. Piano Sonata No.17 In D, D.850-2. Con Moto
07. Piano Sonata No.17 In D, D.850-3. Scherzo (Allegro Vivace)
08. Piano Sonata No.17 In D, D.850-4. Rondo (Allegro Moderato)

CD4
01. Piano Sonata No.16 In A Minor, D.845-1. Moderato
02. Piano Sonata No.16 In A Minor, D.845-2. Andante, Poco Mosso
03. Piano Sonata No.16 In A Minor, D.845-3. Scherzo (Allegro Vivace)-Trio (Un
Poco Più Lento)
04. Piano Sonata No.16 In A Minor, D.845-4. Rondo (Allegro Vivace)
05. Piano Sonata In C, D.840-1. Moderato
06. Piano Sonata In C, D.840-2. Andante
07. Piano Sonata No.14 In A Minor, D.784-1. Allegro Giusto
08. Piano Sonata No.14 In A Minor, D.784-2. Andante
09. Piano Sonata No.14 In A Minor, D.784-3. Allegro Vivace

CD5
01. Piano Sonata No.13 In A, D.664-1. Allegro Moderato
02. Piano Sonata No.13 In A, D.664-2. Andante
03. Piano Sonata No.13 In A, D.664-3. Allegro
04. Piano Sonata No.11 In F Minor, D625-1. Allegro
05. Piano Sonata No.11 In F Minor, D625-2. Scherzo: Allegretto-Trio
06. Piano Sonata No.11 In F Minor, D625-3. Allegro
07. Piano Sonata No.9 In B, D.575-1. Allegro Ma Non Troppo
08. Piano Sonata No.9 In B, D.575-2. Andante
09. Piano Sonata No.9 In B, D.575-3. Scherzo (Allegretto)
10. Piano Sonata No.9 In B, D.575-4. Allegro Giusto

CD6
01. Piano Sonata No.7 In E Flat, D. 568-1. Allegro Moderato
02. Piano Sonata No.7 In E Flat, D. 568-2. Andante Molto
03. Piano Sonata No.7 In E Flat, D. 568-3. Menuetto (Allegretto)
04. Piano Sonata No.7 In E Flat, D. 568-4. Allegro Moderato
05. Piano Sonata No.5 In A Flat, D557-1. Allegro Moderato
06. Piano Sonata No.5 In A Flat, D557-2. Andante
07. Piano Sonata No.5 In A Flat, D557-3. Allegro
08. Piano Sonata No.6 In E Minor, D566-1. Moderato
09. Piano Sonata No.6 In E Minor, D566-2. Allegretto

CD7
01. Piano Sonata No.4 In A Minor, D.537-1. Allegro Ma Non Troppo
02. Piano Sonata No.4 In A Minor, D.537-2. Allegretto Quasi Andantino
03. Piano Sonata No.4 In A Minor, D.537-3. Allegro Vivace
04. Piano Sonata No.2 In C, D279-1. Allegro Moderato
05. Piano Sonata No.2 In C, D279-2. Andante
06. Piano Sonata No.2 In C, D279-3. Menuetto: Allegro Vivace-Trio
07. Piano Sonata No.1 In E, D157-1. Allegro Ma Non Troppo
08. Piano Sonata No.1 In E, D157-2. Andante
09. Piano Sonata No.1 In E, D157-3. Menuetto: Allegro Vivace-Trio



Schubert’s piano sonatas remained uncharted territory for an
embarrassingly long time. Rachmaninov did not know of their existence, and their
unique character and vision was usually obscured by lazy assumptions and cliches
(their lack of conventional form, their ‘heavenly length’, their
touching Viennese lightness and lyricism). Since those dark times a wealth of
great pianists have come forward to give them their due, led by such pioneering
spirits as Schnabel, Edward Erdmann and Kempff. Of these, Kempff holds a unique
place and DG’s immaculate reissue of virtually all the sonatas is worth
its weight in gold. No other pianist has communicated Schubert with a greater
sense of his final transcendence of earthly pain and travail. For Kempff the
sonatas are an exploration of ‘the immeasurable depths of
Schubert’s soul, offering nothing for the out and out virtuoso and
everything for those who find solace in music freed from all material
concerns’. These words are revealing and characteristic of a blessedly
controversial genius whose play of light and shade and poetic charisma colour
every page, whether freely experimental or ideally structured.
For some his otherworldliness makes him insufficiently bold or confrontational
in, say, the elemental uproar at the heart of the Andantino from the A major
Sonata. Again, there are those for whom Kempff’s tempo and manner in the
Scherzo from the same sonata are tricky, even salonish, and for whom his
understatement at the start of the G major Sonata, D894, or his subduing of the
storms in the early A minor Sonata, D537, are unconvincing alternatives to more
obviously eloquent and robust performances. He is far less trenchant or
speculative than, say, Gilels in the D major Sonata, D850, and yet invariably
his range of colour and nuance erase even a lingering sense of Gemutlichkeit, of
great music played down to domestic proportions. The first movement of the B
flat Sonata is surely among the most subtle and haunting of all Schubert
interpretations, the sing-a-song-of-sixpence finale of the D major Sonata a
marvel of teasing wit and inwardness. Also, the writer who found the A major
Sonata, D664, ‘full of the smiling lights and colours of a spring
day’ must surely have heard Kempff play. Even as you long, overall, for a
higher degree of drama and intensity, you are simultaneously made aware of a
pianist who brought an Apollonian grace to even the fiercest Dionysian pages of
Beethoven and who, arguably, found his truest voice in Schubert.
Kempff’s tonal sheen and translucence, his magical elixir, remain unique
in the history of piano playing. You may feel that Edith Vogel’s claim
that ‘Schubert is like Beethoven in heaven’ is a trifle one-sided,
but her view is certainly confirmed by Wilhelm Kempff.

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