Wilhelm Kempff The Solo Repertoire 35cd .

Here on five CDs are Wilhelm Kempff’s complete Decca and DG concerto recordings dating from the 1950s. Most mercurial of musical geniuses, Kempff’s playing created an instantly recognisable aura and ambience, making comparison with other great pianists of the 20th century an exercise in irrelevance. For Alfred Brendel, Kempff was ‘like an Aeolian harp, ever ready to respond to whatever interesting wind blew his way’ and although there was clearly a ground plan behind his interpretations they were marked by an improvisatory charm and pulse that gave a rare individuality to virtually all his performances. Outwardly benign (some considered him cosy, or gemütlich) his playing brimmed over with a colour and nuance worn with an enviable ease and lightness. Unlike so many of his colleagues (Schnabel and Myra Hess, for example) Kempff adored recording and was more than happy to present this or that jewel-like facet of a score for his listener’s endless fascination and delight.

Wilhelm Kempff's cycle of the Beethoven Piano Concertos with Ferdinand Leitner and the Berlin Philharmonic is one of the great achievements of the golden age of stereo. Kempff had already recorded a magnificent mono cycle in the mid-1950s with the same orchestra under Paul Van Kempen (recently reissued on the box set "Wilhelm Kempff: The Complete 1950s Concerto Recordings" in DG's Original Masters series – see my review), but these new performances maintained his highest playing standards while offering the added dimension of stereo sound.

Wilhelm Kempff (1895–1991), one of the great piano masters, receives an exceptional tribute from the label with which he was most closely associated. This is a beautiful, limited-edition 35-CD box of Kempff’s complete solo repertoire on DG and Decca Classics. It includes the stereo Beethoven sonata cycle, the Schubert sonata cycle, generous anthologies of Bach, Brahms, Liszt, Schubert, and Schumann – plus Chopin and Baroque. There are many rarities, not readily available at present.

Wilhelm Kempff - Wilhelm Kempff Edition [80CDs Box Set] (2020)
EAC Rip | FLAC (tracks+.cue, log) | Run Time: 03:21:26:47 | 19.74 Gb
Genre: Classical | Label: Deutsche Grammophon

Celebrating Wilhelm Kempff's incredible legacy on Deutsche Grammophon with over 92 hours of stunning performances, curated in four chapters: Concerto Recordings, Chamber Music, Solo Repertoire, Shellac Recordings. 6 CDs with rare shellac recordings - first release on DG. Includes recordings with Wolfgang Schneiderhan, Yehudi Menuhin, Pierre Fournier, Henryk Szeryng, Pablo Casals, Ferdinand Leitner, Bernhard Klee, Rafael Kubelik, Paul van Kempen, Karl M?nchinger, Josef Krips, and more.

Wilhelm Kempff - Wilhelm Kempff Edition [80CDs Box Set] (2020)
EAC Rip | FLAC (tracks+.cue, log) | Run Time: 03:21:26:47 | 19.74 Gb
Genre: Classical | Label: Deutsche Grammophon

Celebrating Wilhelm Kempff's incredible legacy on Deutsche Grammophon with over 92 hours of stunning performances, curated in four chapters: Concerto Recordings, Chamber Music, Solo Repertoire, Shellac Recordings. 6 CDs with rare shellac recordings - first release on DG. Includes recordings with Wolfgang Schneiderhan, Yehudi Menuhin, Pierre Fournier, Henryk Szeryng, Pablo Casals, Ferdinand Leitner, Bernhard Klee, Rafael Kubelik, Paul van Kempen, Karl M?nchinger, Josef Krips, and more.

The thirty-five CDs that make up the present boxed set are designed to acquaint listeners with one of the most important pianists of the 20th century or, if they are already familiar with his work, to allow them to rediscover it anew. Wilhelm Kempff (1895-1991) was the final representative of the great tradition of German pianists that also included Artur Schnabel (1882-1951) and Wilhelm Backhaus (1884-1969). Of the three, Kempff had by far the longest career - he gave his last public concert in 1982.