KEMPFF The Beethoven Piano Sonatas, Complete (1951-56) - PABX033

"One side with a playing-time of less than eighteen minutes and the other with less than thirteen may seem pretty short measure for a twelve-inch disc costing more than two pounds, but Kempff's performances of these two little-played sonatas have a vivid, fresh-minted quality about them that might well resign one to short measure. Certainly he gives no short measure of musicianship. Each phrase is played with an intense concentration that makes it sound as if Kempff had just composed the sonata and were now running it through for the first time. It's true that there are one or two tiny smudges in the passage-work, but on the whole Kempff's phrasing is so crisp, his use of the sustaining pedal so discreet, that it makes Backhaus's performances, adequate as they were, sound positively sluggish in comparison. But if the fast movements, notably the two finales, are played with the utmost vivacity one has only to turn to the adagio molto of the C minor sonata, the only slow movement in these two works, to find a quiet, unhurried lyricism that betokens Kempff's complete absorption in the music. I am well aware that some of the previous records in Kempff's set of the Beethoven sonatas have been unsatisfactory-usually because his highly mannered approach has broken the continuity of the music - but to my mind his performances of these two early sonatas, both written about 1797 , are among the best things he has done, and none the worse for being unpretentious.

The piano tone is good (so it should be with such an expenditure of record-space), but there is some pre-echo on the side containing the C minor sonata."

J.N., The Gramophone, August 1957
Review of Sonatas Nos. 5 & 6

The majority of the recordings in Kempff's 1950s complete Beethoven sonatas series were made in 1951 in sessions which must by today's standards have seemed quite intensive: of the seven sonatas in this first volume, four were recorded on the same day, 19th December 1951. The recordings took place in the Beethovensaal in Hannover and were destined for release both on 12-inch long playing vinyl and 78rpm shellac. Although the recorded piano was more than adequate for its era it remained somewhat flat and hard to modern ears, something that these XR remasters have essentially cured, bringing to these fabulous performances an enhanced, natural tone that really sings, allowing the years to fall away and the original performances to be re-approached as if new.

Andrew Rose

"Had Beethoven composed nothing other than the 32 piano sonatas, his genius would have been acknowledged. These works are at the summit of the piano repertoire, and many of them are still represented in the core repertoire on the concert stage today.

Beethoven intended them as studies, and there is a reference to a concert performance of just one of them during Beethoven’s lifetime. Yet the finest pianists still are challenged to perform and/or record all of them as a cycle.

The Beethoven sonatas have become almost synonymous with the name of Artur Schnabel (1882-1951), a principal exponent of the German school of pianism (although he, like Gulda, was Austrian by birth). The performance style of pianists of this school (Backhaus, Serkin, and others) is said to be characterized by strict discipline, careful technique, and an intellectual approach to the music.

I would have agreed with this broad assessment of the pianism of the German Wilhelm Kempff (1895-1991), in particular. His recordings reflect immaculate technique, exquisite taste, and a certain emotional detachment. He is recognized as a master in particular of the piano works of Beethoven and Schubert.

He recorded the cycle of the Beethoven sonatas in 1951 at the Beethovensaal in Hanover. That recording, to my ears, sounded recessed, lacking in warmth, and affirmed the assessments I had read of Kempff’s pianism.

A remastering of those recordings, recently released on the French label Pristine Audio, however, proves how a substandard recording can lead to a misleading assessment. Andrew Rose, the label’s founder, has remastered Kempff’s recorded performances using his XR technology, which adds resonance, warmth, and stereophonic sound without a hint of artificiality.

The first release of the cycle (Pristine Audio PAKM 082) includes Sonatas 1-7, and what a wonder it is. Kempff’s deft, but tasteful use of the pedal is fully in evidence, as is a warm, singing tone to the piano. Technically, of course, they are beyond reproach, but the performances are fully engaging emotionally as well ... Judging by Volume One, this cycle by Kempff goes right to the top of the heap."

Tim Snider, WTJU 91.1FM, August 2020

The majority of the recordings in Kempff's 1950s complete Beethoven sonatas series were made in 1951 in sessions which must by today's standards have seemed quite intensive: of the eight sonatas in this second volume, four were recorded on the same day, 20th December 1951. Some were later returned to - the Pathétique in particular was recorded over three sessions in 1953 and 1956, a multiple re-recording unique to the series which suggests problems with the performances, unexpected technical issues or possibly both. The recordings took place in the Beethovensaal in Hannover and were destined for release both on 12-inch long playing vinyl and, int he case of the 1951 recordings, 78rpm shellac. Although the recorded piano tone was more than adequate for its era it remained somewhat flat and hard to modern ears, especially in the 1951 recordings, something that these XR remasters have essentially cured, bringing to these fabulous performances an enhanced, natural tone that really sings, allowing the years to fall away and the original performances to be re-approached as if new.

Andrew Rose

"The character of Kempff's Appassionata reading is made plain in the opening bars. He does not make a fuss about it, but plays them in a direct, simple and lyrical way. Appassionata, we should remember, was not Beethoven's title, but that of the publisher Cranz. Beethoven's reply, when asked what this work and the D minor Sonata, Op. 31, No.2, meant, was: "Read Shakespeare's Tempest" - and Marion Scott actually started a rather dubious hare by remarking that Beethoven might have linked in his mind The Tempest and the melody "On the banks of Allan Water" (which, some think, was deliberately adapted to form the second subject of the Appassionata) - because both were British! I don't want to venture into these fields, but only to suggest that the title Appassionata, and such commentaries as that of Parry ("Here the human soul asked mighty questions of its God, and had its reply"), have probably tempted some interpreters to welter too much in the music.

Kempff is in no danger of doing so. The surprises of the first movement are all the more exciting because they explode in an atmosphere which has not previously been charged with emotion - only with mystery and stillness. In the Andante con moto his playing of the theme and the variations takes us into a world of serene, ideal beauty, prophetic of the last sonatas. The Finale is taken more slowly than usual, and because there is no rush, the full intricate texture, the questioning and answering voices which so often flash past uncomprehended like scraps of an interesting conversation heard in a noisy train, can all be appreciated. The final Presto too is less fast than usual; and this is one of those not uncommon cases where greater energy is generated by the more deliberate and manageable tempo.

This is indeed a very fine performance, which can teach us a good deal about the sonata, and is complementary to the other fine performances (Gieseking, Fischer, Solomon, Frugoni, Katchen, etc., etc.) which have been put on record. The recording is excellent."


A.P., The Gramophone, January 1957


"The memorable photograph on the sleeve of Kempff registering Weltschmerz is curiously at variance with the performances on the disc. It seems to presage heavily dramatic renditions of the post-Liszt era, whereas Kempff's playing is light and comparatively undramatic. His unpretentious clarity would have struck our grandfathers as the negation of all Beethoven stood for. Kempff plays the Waldstein as though he were thinking in terms of a fortepiano contemporary with the music. He uses the sustaining pedal much less than most pianists; in the opening bars, for instance, the repeated quavers are detached and almost dainty. When he comes to the hymn-like contrasting tune, he resists the usual temptation to emphasise its lyricism by adopting a slower tempo; he takes it at exactly the same tempo, and this momentarily shocks the ear, and then justifies itself completely. The resisting of romantic temptations (in the musical sense) is part and parcel of Kempff's attitude to Beethoven. This first movement is perhaps less exciting than usual, but a good deal more convincing. I have never heard the little slow movement played with such grave beauty, and the tender opening to the finale is equally lovely. Once or twice in the technically difficult passages Kempff's fingers miss a note or two, but such tiny lapses add reality to the playing. This is not the conventional performance of the Waldstein; it is something much more interesting than that - an unconventional but convincing performance of real intellectual beauty."

R.F., The Gramophone, July 1958

(NB. The whole of the second and third movements of this sonata can be heard in our online sample)

The majority of the recordings in Kempff's 1950s complete Beethoven sonatas series were made in 1951 in sessions which must by today's standards have seemed quite intensive: the nine sonatas in this third volume were recorded over just four days - and they were not the only recordings made on those days! The recordings took place in the Beethovensaal in Hannover and were destined for release both on 12-inch long playing vinyl and 78rpm shellac. Although the recorded piano tone was more than adequate for its era it remained somewhat flat and hard to modern ears, something that these XR remasters have essentially cured, bringing to these fabulous performances an enhanced, natural tone that really sings, allowing the years to fall away and the original performances to be re-approached as if new.

Andrew Rose

Wilhelm Kempff is in the front rank of Beethoven players, and in the “Hammerklavier” only Horszowski and Backhaus (of the pianists listed above) can compete with him. Kempff is an intellectual, as opposed to Gulda, who relies almost entirely on his phenomenal technique. He is less impetuous than Horszowski or Appelbaum, notably in the first and last movements, and I think myself he is a little too restrained in the opening pages of this sonata. The tempi of this first movement is anybody's guess; Kempff chooses rather a slow one and the music is interesting enough but a little unexciting. He really comes into his own in the slow movement, which he takes at a less leisurely tempo than most people, showing an absolute grasp of its structure and its poetic content. I found his playing most moving, and I do not think I have heard a better performance of either this movement or the fugue. He takes the latter very steadily, and constantly surprises by bringing out details of part-writing that I (in company with the pianists listed above) had not noticed before. He has firm, controlled finger technique, and seems never in any danger of smudging the more difficult passages. The piano quality on this record is excellent, better for instance than on the Backhaus disc. If you want a more dashing performance Horszowski is your man, but I am inclined to prefer Kempff. In every way this is a very fine record.

R. F., The Gramophone, April 1956

[The recordings] are taken from the first cycle German pianist Wilhelm Kempff made of the Beethoven sonatas during the LP era (most were recorded in the early 1950s). That monophonic cycle was first issued in the United States on Decca. A DG stereo Beethoven piano sonata cycle followed in the mid-1960s. Both are marvelous collections, documents of one of the great Beethoven pianists of the 20th century. There is a famous anecdote told by Kempff about his visit to the home of Jean Sibelius toward the close of the Finnish composer’s life. Sibelius asked Kempff to play the Beethoven “Hammerklavier” Sonata. “When I have finished, [Sibelius] says to me: ‘You did not play like a pianist, you played like a human being.” Kempff was of course more than equal to the considerable challenges Beethoven, a great virtuoso in his own right, presented in his solo piano writing. But in his performances of Beethoven (and all the other composers he championed), Kempff always placed his technical gifts at the service of the music. Kempff’s Beethoven is unfailingly elegant in tone. Voices are presented with the utmost clarity, rubato is sparingly and tastefully applied, and Kempff is ever attentive to Beethoven’s frequent dynamic gradations. Still, Kempff’s Beethoven never lacks for vigor and energy.

All of these laudable elements are evident in both the early-1950s and mid-1960s sonata cycles. Wilhelm Kempff was in his mid-50s when the mono recordings were made, and about 70 for the later cycle. The musicianship on both sets is exemplary, but the earlier cycle finds Kempff closer to the zenith of his technical abilities. Up until now, the stereo cycle has had the upper hand from a sonic perspective. A comparison of the 1995 DG issue of the mono cycle with the label’s 2019 release of the stereo remake reveals the former to possess somewhat cramped sound, with a bit of compression in louder passages. However, the Pristine Audio XR restoration of the monophonic recordings constitutes a dramatic improvement. They now emerge with a striking clarity, depth and beauty of tone, and impressive dynamic range. In fact, the mono recordings as restored by Andrew Rose and Pristine Audio are at least competitive with the stereo cycle, and might have offer a bit more satisfying sound. If Pristine Audio can maintain this level of achievement throughout the remainder of the cycle, it will be a tremendous and important achievement indeed. Marvelous recordings, now presented in superb sound; recommended with enthusiasm.  

Ken Meltzer, Fanfare magazine, January-February 2021, review of Volume 1 of this series (edited)