Mp3 CBR 320 kbps / Flac (tracks) | Classical | 49:33 | 114 / 182 MbAs these nine selections recorded in 1958 reveal, Wilhelm Kempff has no feel whatsoever for Chopin’s music.

While Kempff is beyond all argument one of the great German pianists of the middle years of the twentieth century, with superlative recordings of Beethoven, Brahms, and Schumann to his credit, he is simply terrible as a Chopin player.

With stiff rhythms, awkward phrasing, and muted colors, his Chopin lacks lyricism, drama, and drive, and thus sounds utterly unlike Chopin.

It might have helped had Kempff’s technique been up the virtuoso demands of the music, but as passage after passage all too clearly demonstrates, Kempff was no virtuoso, and much of the music here is beyond him.

On top of the dreadful mismatch of composer and performer, the remastering here is terrible.

Apparently taken directly from an old record — one can hear the needle being put in the grooves at the start of some selections — the sound is so distant it seems to come not just from another time but from another planet.

There are hundreds of more appealing Chopin recordings available, and only the most devout admirers of Kempff would want to seek this one out.

Tracklist:1. Wilhelm Kempff – Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-Flat Minor, Op.35, IFC 76: I. Grave. Doppio movimento2. Wilhelm Kempff – Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-Flat Minor, Op. 35, IFC 76: II. Scherzo3. Wilhelm Kempff – Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-Flat Minor, Op. 35, IFC 76: III. Marche funèbre: Lento4. Wilhelm Kempff – Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-Flat Major, Op. 35, IFC 76: III. Presto. Sotto voce e legato5. Wilhelm Kempff – Fantaisie-impromptu in C-Sharp Minor, Op.66, IFC 246. Wilhelm Kempff – Impromptu No.1 in A-Flat Major, Op. 29, IFC 317. Wilhelm Kempff – Scherzo No.3 in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 39, IFC 1028. Wilhelm Kempff – Berceuse in D-Flat Major, Op. 57, IFC 109. Wilhelm Kempff – Barcarolle in F-Sharp Major, Op. 60, IFC 9