Kempff knew what Beethoven had to say. He just interpreted it without any ego at all. Just like the great Sviatoslaf Richter. They would hold back their virtiousity and just do as the composer says. Hats Off. Bravo. A pleasure to have them ! Thank you for your share
I heard Mr Kempff explaining this about himself, he said that when he was accused of playing "Kempff" and not "Beethoven" he said that his teacher was the student of a studend of a student of Beethoven himself and that this helped him understand to a great extent how it is that Beethoven wanted music to be played.
50 years ago I grew up listening to this actual piece on the original DG record. Outstanding in every way. Kempff excelled with Beethoven, Schumann and Brahms. His Hamburg Steinway sounds glorious. Listening to this started my classical piano journey.
(guest) It is very interesting to compare different interpretations : I've just been watching the great Lang-Lang being offered subtle refinements ( not corrections ), by Daniel Baremboim, and it was fascinating.🎼😊🎼. I'm trying to find a you tube video of Martha Argerich playing this amazing sonata, and I long to hear what dear Vladimir Horowitz made of it... 🎼😊🎼❤🎼😊🇬🇧🎼
Whilst the general impression is that this performance is quite good, one gets the feeling that in last Movement, Kempff is not up to the requirements, in that he thunders out the basso during the difficult runs and doesn't provide the Prestissimo finish (at least a noticeable increase in Tempo for the final pages; Beethoven wrote it in the score and common sense demands it) - many other fine performances (eg Richter and especially Schnabel) display a better level of thought...and to me, technique.
Eh, disagree. I find Schnabel's tempo too fast such that it loses the power of that ending of the 3rd movement, especially in the upper register arpeggio. It's technically great, but to me he doesn't have the power and emotional movement of Kempff's interpretation. I agree that the bass comes in a little stronger and that the runs become a little buried, but my impression is that this is more an issue of the recording quality of the day rather than his dynamics. I always find older recordings to be either a little muffled to achieve a fuller bass or overly bright to clarify the highs. I think if Kempff recorded this today the balance would be much better. As for the prestissimo finish, I've fond Kempff to play it at a faster tempo than most other pianists, one of the reasons I strongly prefer his interpretation over other. I think he already plays the last movement at a slightly faster tempo, and increasing it too much would leave it sort of bland, as I find in Schnabel's version.
This is a very serious interpretative hazard, which has been surmounted successfully by Badura Skoda, Alfred Brendel and Gulda. I agree with this critical observation but we cannot invalidate this great interpretation because of it.
