- Wilhelm Kempff
Infobox musical artist
Name = Wilhelm Kempff
Img_capt =
Background = classical_ensemble
Birth_name = Wilhelm Kempff
alias =
Born = birth date|1895|11|25Jüterbog ,Germany
Origin = flagicon|GermanyJüterbog ,Germany
Died = death date and age|1991|5|23|1895|11|25Positano ,Italy
Instrument =Piano
Genre = Classical
Occupation =Pianist
Labels =
Years_active =Wilhelm Walter Friedrich Kempff (
November 25 ,1895 –May 23 ,1991 ) was a world-renowned Germanvirtuoso pianist andcomposer . Although his repertory includedBach ,Liszt ,Chopin ,Schumann , andBrahms , Kempff was particularly well-known for his interpretations of the music ofLudwig van Beethoven andFranz Schubert , both of whose complete sonatas he recorded at least once.Early life
Kempff was born in
Jüterbog , Brandenburg, in 1895. He grew up in nearbyPotsdam where his father was a royal music director andorganist at St. Nicolai Church. His grandfather was also anorganist and his brother Georg became director of church music at theUniversity of Erlangen . Kempff studied music at first at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik at the age of nine after receiving lessons from his father at a younger age. Whilst there he studied composition withRobert Kahn and piano withHeinrich Barth . In 1914 he moved on to study at the Viktoriagymnasium in Potsdam before returning to Berlin to finish his training.As a pianist
In 1917, Kempff made his first major recital, consisting of predominantly major works, including Beethoven's
Hammerklavier Sonata andBrahms Variations on a theme of Paganini . Kempff toured very widely inEurope and much of the rest of the world. Between 1936 and 1979 he performed ten times inJapan (a small Japanese island was named "Kempu-san" in his honor). Kempff made his firstLondon appearance in 1951 and inNew York in 1964. He gave his last public performance inParis in 1981, and then retired for health reasons (Parkinson's Disease ). He died inPositano ,Italy at the age of 95. He is survived by five children.Wilhelm Kempff recorded over a period of some sixty years. He is celebrated today for his recordings of Schumann, Brahms, Schubert, Mozart, Bach, Liszt, Chopin and particularly, of Beethoven.
He was among the first to record the complete sonatas of Franz Schubert, long before these works became popular. He also recorded two sets of the complete Beethoven sonatas (and one early, almost complete set on shellac 1926-1945), one in mono (1951-1956) and the other in stereo (1964-1965). He recorded the complete Beethoven
piano concerto s twice as well, both with theBerlin Philharmonic ; the first from the early 1950s in mono withPaul van Kempen , and the later in stereo from the early 1960s withFerdinand Leitner . Kempff also recordedchamber music withYehudi Menuhin ,Pierre Fournier ,Wolfgang Schneiderhan ,Paul Grummer , andHenryk Szeryng , among others.The pianist
Alfred Brendel has written that Kempff "played on impulse... it depended on whether the right breeze, as with an aeolian harp, was blowing. You then would take something home that you never heard elsewhere." (in Brendel's book, "The Veil of Order"). He regards Kempff as the "most rhythmical" of his colleagues. Brendel helped choose the selections for IMG's "Great Pianist" issue of Kempff recordings, and wrote in the notes that he regarded Kempff "achieves things that are beyond him" in his "unsurpassable" recording of Liszt's first Legende, "St. Francis Preaching to the Birds."When pianist
Artur Schnabel undertook his pioneering complete recording of the Beethoven sonatas in the 1930s, he told EMI that if he didn't complete the cycle, they should have Kempff complete the remainder - even though the two pianists took noticeably different approaches to the composer (for example, Schnabel preferred extremely fast or slow tempos, while Kempff preferred moderate ones). Later, when Kempff was inFinland , the composerJean Sibelius asked him to play the slow movement of Beethoven's 29th Sonata, theHammerklavier ; after Kempff finished, Sibelius told him, "You did not play that as a pianist but rather as a human being."Fact|date=August 2007Technique
As a performer he stressed lyricism, charm, and spontaneity in music, particularly effective in intimate pieces or passages. He always strove for a singing, lyrical quality, occasionally slipping into a slight degree of affectation in his phrasing. He avoided extreme tempos and display for its own sake. He left recordings of most of his repertory, including the complete sonatas of Beethoven and Schubert. He performed to an advanced age, often concertizing past his eightieth birthday. He appeared in 1979 with the Berlin Philharmonic, marking an association with them that spanned over sixty years.
As a teacher
In 1957 Kempff began to give an annual Beethoven interpretation course in his villa in
Positano . Six years after his death, friend and former studentJohn O'Conor took over the course. Other noted pianists to have studied with Kempff includeMitsuko Uchida ,Angela Hewitt ,Idil Biret , Carmen Piazzini, andGerhard Oppitz .Composition
A lesser-known activity of Kempff was composing. He composed for almost every genre and used his own cadenzas for Beethoven's Piano Concertos 1-4. His student
Idil Biret has recorded a CD of his piano works. His second symphony premiered in 1929 at the Leipzig Gewandhaus byWilhelm Furtwängler . He also prepared a number of Bach transcriptions, including theSiciliano from the Flute Sonata in E, that have been recorded by Kempff and others.External links
* [http://www.meaus.com/KEMPFF.html Obituary for Wilhelm Kempff] , by B. John Zavrel
* [http://www.jeunessesmusicales.com/piano2004/en/actualites/entrevue/26-35%20Kempff.pdf A discussion of Kempff's work, with a special emphasis on Beethoven, by Christopher Breunig, in Jeunesses Musicales]
* [http://www.panix.com/~checker/kempff.htm Wilhelm Kempff discography by Frank Forman]
* [http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Wilhelm+Kempff&search=Search Video recordings of Kempff performances] , youtube.com
* [http://youtube.com/watch?v=oqSulR9Fymg&mode=related&search=| Wilhelm Kempff playing] the 3rd movement of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata.
* [http://www.wilhelm-kempff.de Kempff home page] , in German
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