Franz Schubert: Piano Sonata in B Major D575: Mvt.I: Allegro ma non troppo 00:00 Mvt.II: Andante 08:04 Mvt.III: Scherzo. Allegretto 13:49 Mvt.IV: Allegro giusto 19:25
Wilhelm Kempff: piano
**************************************** From Wikipedia
The Piano Sonata in B major D 575 by Franz Schubert is a sonata for solo piano, posthumously published as Op. 147. Schubert composed the sonata in August 1817.
The work takes approximately 24 minutes to perform.
Daniel Coren has noted that the first movement of this sonata is the only such movement in Schubert’s sonatas where the recapitulation literally transcribes the exposition.[2]
Franz Schubert: Piano Sonata in B Major D575: Mvt.I: Allegro ma non troppo 00:00 Mvt.II: Andante 08:04 Mvt.III: Scherzo. Allegretto 13:49 Mvt.IV: Allegro giusto 19:25
Piano: Wilhelm Kempff The Piano Sonata No. 18 in E-flat major, Op. 31, No. 3, is a sonata for solo piano by Ludwig van Beethoven, the third and last of his Op. 31 piano sonatas. The work dates from 1802. A playful jocularity is maintained throughout the piece, earning it the occasional nickname of The Hunt, although like many of Beethoven’s early works, the ‘jocular’ style can be heard as a facade, concealing profound ideas and depths of emotion. Be apart of my Facebook page! http://www.facebook.com/Blop888
The Piano Sonata No. 18 in E-flat major, Op. 31, No. 3, is a sonata for solo piano by Ludwig van Beethoven, the third and last of his Op. 31 piano sonatas. The work dates from 1802. A playful jocularity is maintained throughout the piece, earning it the occasional nickname of The Hunt, although like many of Beethoven’s early works, the ‘jocular’ style can be heard as a facade, concealing profound ideas and depths of emotion.
Allegro: Beethoven’s progressive harmonic language is apparent from the very first chord of the piece (3rd inversion of the 11th on dominant B♭[2]), the stability of a tonic chord in root position delayed until bar 8. The expressive harmonic colour, coupled with the changes of tempi in the introduction (1-18), creates an evocative opening, reminiscent of the improvisatory style of C. P. E. Bach‘s piano sonatas. This opening cell is repeated extensively throughout the movement – at the start of the development (89), in the recapitulation (137), and also during the coda (transposed into the subdominant (220), and then at its original pitch (237)). The codetta (33-45) explores this opening chord in a minor variation (with a C flat, implying ii7 of E♭ minor), even appearing in bar 36 in the exact spacing (albeit with different spelling) of the ‘Tristan chord‘, written by Richard Wagner some 55 years later.
Scherzo. Allegrettovivace: This scherzo is different from regular scherzos, as it is written in 2/4 time as opposed to 3/4, and because it is in sonata form. However, its still contains many characteristics of a scherzo, including unexpected pauses and a playful nature. The theme is in the right hand while the left-hand contains staccatoaccompaniment. This wasn’t the first time Beethoven wrote a scherzo that wasn’t in ternary form; the scherzo in the Op. 14, No. 2 sonata has a scherzo as its third movement, which is in rondo form.
Menuetto. Moderato e grazioso: It is surprisingly the most serious of the movements, with a sweet and tender nature presented in the piece, with both the minuet and the trio presented in E flat major.
Presto con fuoco: A very vigorous and rolling piece, suspended by continuous, rollicking eighth notes in the bass.
The form of the sonata is unusual because it does not have a slow movement, which is instead replaced with a scherzo and followed by a minuet, before launching into the spirited finale.
Adaptations
Camille Saint-Saëns used the Trio section of the Menuetto as the theme for his 1874 Variations sur un thème de Beethoven, Op. 35, for two pianos.
Recording in Beethovensaal, Hannover Germany, Dec 2009. Wilhelm Kempff recorded Beethoven cycle in the very same hall. Buy Moonlight Sonata DVD http://www.amazon.co.uk/Live-Royal-Al…
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8. PIANO PIECES, OP.76 Book I: 47:20 : No.1 Capriccio in F-sharp minor: Un poco agitato (3mn03) 50:25 : No.2 Capriccio in B minor: Allegretto non troppo (3mn32) 53:57 : No.3 Intermezzo in A-flat major: Grazioso (2mn33) 56:32 : No.4 Intermezzo in B-flat major: Allegro grazioso (2mn31) Book II: 59:04 : No.5 Capriccio in C-sharp minor: Agitato, ma non troppo presto (3mn22) 01:02:26 : No.6 Intermezzo in A major: Andante con moto (3mn40) 01:06:07 : No.7 Intermezzo in A minor: Moderato semplice (3mn02) 01:09:08 : No.8 Capriccio in C major: Grazioso ed un poco vivace (3mn43) Recording: London, West Hampstead, 23 & 26 November 1953.
9. TWO RHAPSODIES, OP.79 01:12:52 : No.1 in B minor: Agitato (9mn32) 01:22:26 : No.2 in G minor: Molto passionato, ma non troppo allegro (7mn30) Recording: London, West Hampstead, November 1953.
10. FANTASIAS, OP.116 01:29:55 : No.1 Capriccio in D minor: Presto energico (2mn48) 01:32:45 : No.2 Intermezzo in A minor: Andante (3mn09) 01:35:54 : No.3 Capriccio in G minor: Allegro passionato (3mn00) 01:38:55 : No.4 Intermezzo in E major: Adagio (4mn06) 01:43:02 : No.5 Intermezzo in E minor: Andante con grazia ed intimissimo sentimento (3mn09) 01:46:12 : No.6 Intermezzo in E major: Andantino teneramente (2mn40) 01:48:52 : No.7 Capriccio in D minor: Allegro agitato (2mn36) Recording: London, West Hampstead, 23 & 26 November 1953.
11. INTERMEZZI, OP.117 01:51:28 : No.1 in E-flat major: Andante moderato (5mn04) 01:56:32 : No.2 in B-flat minor: Andante non troppo e con molto espressione (4mn17) 02:00:50 : No.3 in C-sharp minor: Andante con moto (5mn06) Recording: London, West Hampstead, October 1950.
12. PIANO PIECES, OP.118 02:05:56 : No.1 Intermezzo in A minor: Allegro non assai (2mn06) 02:08:03 : No.2 Intermezzo in A major: Andante teneramente (4mn28) 02:12:32 : No.3 Ballade in G minor: Allegro energico (3mn57) 02:16:28 : No.4 Intermezzo in F minor: Allegretto un poco agitato (2mn49) 02:19:18 : No.5 Romanze in F major: Andante (3mn46) 02:23:04 : No.6 Intermezzo in E-flat minor: Andante, largo e mesto (4mn53) Recording: London, West Hampstead, 23-24 March 1950.
13. PIANO PIECES, OP.119 02:27:58 : No.1 Intermezzo in B minor: Adagio (3mn37) 02:31:35 : No.2 in E minor: Andantino un poco agitato (5mn01) 02:36:36 : No.3 in C major: Grazioso e giocoso (1mn47) 02:38:24 : No.4 in E-flat major: Allegro risoluto (5mn16) Recording: London, West Hampstead, 23 & 26 November 1953.
0:00 1st mov. Allegro molto e con brio 8:41 2nd mov. Largo, con gran espressione 16:31 3rd mov. Allegro 21:50 4th mov. Rondo: Poco allegretto e grazioso
Wilhelm Walter Friedrich Kempff (25 November 1895 – 23 May 1991) was a Germanpianist 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, by both of whom he recorded complete sets 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.[3]
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 made his first major recital, consisting of predominantly major works, including Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Sonata and BrahmsVariations on a theme of Paganini.[1] Kempff toured very 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). 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]
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 Phillip’s “Great Pianists of the 20th Century” issue of Kempff recordings, and wrote in the notes that 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 in Finland, the composer Jean Sibelius asked him to play the slow movement of Beethoven’s 29th Sonata, the Hammerklavier; after Kempff finished, Sibelius told him, “You did not play that as a pianist but rather as a human being.”[4]
Technique
As a performer he stressed lyricism and spontaneity in music, particularly effective in intimate pieces or passages. He always strove for a singing, lyrical quality. 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, concertizing past his eightieth birthday. His association with the Berlin Philharmonic spanned over sixty years.
As a teacher
From 1924 to 1929, Kempff took over the direction of the Stuttgart College of Music as a successor of Max Pauer. In 1931, he was co-founder of the summer courses at Marmorpalais Potsdam. In 1957, Kempff founded Fondazione Orfeo (today: Kempff Kulturstiftung) in the south-Italian city Positano and held his first Beethoven interpretation masterclass at Casa Orfeo, which Kempff had built especially for this reason. He continued teaching there once a year until 1982. After his death in 1991,Gerhard Oppitz taught the courses from 1992-1994 until John O’Conor took over. Oppitz and O’Conor had both been outstanding participants of Kempff’s masterclasses and were personally closely connected with Wilhelm Kempff.
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 by Wilhelm Furtwängler. He also prepared a number of Bach transcriptions, including the Siciliano from the Flute Sonata in E-flat major, that have been recorded by Kempff and others.
Schubert: The Piano Sonatas (complete), (DG 463 766-2 (seven compact disks)) recordings made in 1965, ’67, ’68, ’70.
Autobiogra
Kempff, Wilhelm. Unter dem Zimbelstern: Jugenderinnerungen eines Pianisten [“Under the Cymbal Star: The Development of a Musician” (1951)]. Laaber: Laaber Verlag, 1978.
II. Andante poco moto, C major. (4 measures missing after measure 43) 8:06
III. Scherzo: Allegro vivace – Trio: Un poco più lento, A minor 17:13
IV. Rondo: Allegro vivace, A minor 23:58
The first movement is in sonata form though with ambiguity over the material in the development and the beginning of the recapitulation.[1]
The second movement is in variation form. Noted performers of the work in the 19th century included Hans von Bülow, who played the sonata in both Europe and the USA.[2]
Daniel Coren has discussed the nature of the recapitulation in the first movement of this sonata.[3]
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