Kempff plays Schubert Piano Sonata in A Major D664

Franz Schubert:
Piano Sonata in A Major D664:
Mvt.I: Allegro moderato 00:00
Mvt.II: Andante 10:41
Mvt.III: Allegro 15:14
Wilhelm Kempff: piano
The Piano Sonata in A major D. 664, Op. posth. 120 is a sonata for solo piano composed by Franz Schubert in the summer of 1819.
Movements
I. Allegro moderato
A major
II. Andante
D major
III. Allegro
A major
Well regarded among pianists, the “Little” A major sonata is so called to distinguish it from the hefty 1828 sonata in the same key.[citation needed] It is the shortest among Schubert’s complete sonatas.[1] The manuscript, completed in July 1819, was dedicated to Josephine von Koller of Steyr in Upper Austria, whom he considered to be “very pretty” and “a good pianist.” The lyrical, buoyant, in spots typically poignant nature of this sonata fits the image of a young Schubert in love, living in a summery Austrian countryside, which he also considered to be “unimaginably lovely.”[2]
The A major sonata is straightforward, with a dulcet melodic opening. It was the first of Schubert’s piano sonatas where the sonata form as perfected by his idol, Beethoven, does not seem wrestled with; rather, it is a “joyous breakthrough,” a carefree triumph over strict rules of construction.[3]
The original manuscript to this “little” sonata has been lost.[4]
Wilhelm Walter Friedrich Kempff:
(25 November 1895 – 23 May 1991) was a German pianist and composer. Although his repertoire included Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt and Brahms, Kempff was particularly well known for his interpretations of the music of Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert. He recorded the complete collection of their piano sonatas.[1][2] He is considered to have been one of the chief exponents of the Germanic tradition during the 20th century and one of the greatest pianists of all time.[3

Album cover for Wilhelm Kempff’s recording of Beethoven Piano Sonatas on DG 139 935 (1965), which received the Grand Prix du Disque.
Early life
Kempff was born in Jüterbog, Brandenburg, in 1895.[1] He grew up in nearby Potsdam where his father was a royal music director and organist at St. Nicolai Church. His grandfather was also an organist and his brother Georg became director of church music at the University 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 with Robert Kahn and piano with Karl Heinrich Barth[1] (with whom Arthur Rubinstein also studied). In 1914 Kempff moved on to study at the Viktoria gymnasium in Potsdam before returning to Berlin to finish his training.[1]
As a pianist
In 1917, Kempff gave his first major recital, consisting of predominantly major works, including Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Sonata and Brahms Variations on a theme of Paganini.[1] Kempff toured widely in Europe and much of the rest of the world. Between 1936 and 1979 he performed ten times in Japan (a small Japanese island was named Kenpu-san in his honor)[citation needed]. Kempff made his first London appearance in 1951 and his first in New York in 1964. He gave his last public performance in Paris in 1981, and then retired for health reasons (Parkinson’s Disease)[citation needed]. He died in Positano, Italy at the age of 95, five years after his wife, whom he had married in 1926. They were survived by five children.[1]
Wilhelm Kempff recorded over a period of some sixty years. His recorded legacy includes works of Schumann, Brahms, Schubert, Mozart, Bach, Liszt, Chopin and particularly, of Beethoven.[1]

He was among the first to record the complete sonatas of Franz Schubert, long before these works became popular. (For Schubert sonatas which were left incomplete, Kempff recorded only the completed movements and not the fragments.) 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 concertos twice as well, both with the Berlin Philharmonic; the first from the early 1950s in mono with Paul van Kempen, and the later in stereo from the early 1960s with Ferdinand Leitner. Kempff also recorded chamber music with Yehudi Menuhin, Pierre Fournier, Wolfgang Schneiderhan, Paul Grummer, and Henryk Szeryng, among others.
He left recordings of most of his repertory, including the complete sonatas of Beethoven and Schubert. He performed to an advanced age, concertizing past his eightieth birthday. His association with the Berlin Philharmonic spanned over sixty years. Read more