Plays Bach: Partitas 4 & 6

"Freddy Kempf is a singularly expressive and emotional pianist, almost a fossil from the nineteenth century, or at least the early twentieth. He plays these works as Chopin probably played them, perhaps as the early Liszt played them. There is not the merest nodding acknowledgment of "original performance practice"; these are romantic performances full of deep sentiment, but I do not mean sentimentality."
(MusicWeb April 2006)

After a series of highly praised recordings of music by Beethoven, Schumann, Chopin, Liszt, Rachmaninov and Prokofiev, Freddy Kempf makes a foray into the music of earlier times. The Partitas may be seen as a summation of Bach's achievements in the genre of instrumental suites. His use of different textures, his increasingly frequent recourse to harmony and to 'gallant' melodies rather than the imitative counterpoint that had formerly held sway, the great virtuosity he requires and, even more importantly, the profundity he achieves make these works not only the apex but also the logical conclusion of this tradition of transforming a suite of dances into great art. This is most obvious in the Allemande of Partita No. 4 as well as the Sarabande of Partita No. 6 on the present disc. Often described by reviewers as a virtuoso and great technician, Freddy Kempf has equally made himself known for independent and original interpretations. His latest disc, of 'the three great' Beethoven Sonatas (BIS-SACD-1460) was met with glowing reviews in which this aspect was singled out: the critic in Pianist magazine wrote 'these timeless works sparkle with energy and spontaneity' while American Record Guide called it 'a performance to match any for excitement and youthful impetuosity'. And in the New York Times the disc was termed one of the best CDs of 2005, with the comment '[Kempf] takes a fluid approach to tempo, dynamics and articulation, and uses those qualities to transform these works into edge-of-the-seat dramas.'