Freddy Kempf is one of the most exciting pianistic talents to have emerged over the last decade, and these Beethoven sonatas will reinforce the message. But as the crowning triptych to Beethoven’s keyboard oeuvre, they’re also holy ground, which young pianists tread at their peril. The first is gossamer-light, the second suggests the harvesting of heavy, mellow fruit, and the third ends with a majestic flight into the heavens: in a sense, all human life is here. And in the hands of the greatest pianists in history–Artur Schnabel, Wilhelm Backhaus, Claudio Arrau and Solomon–these amazing works assume unsurpassed grandeur. Kempf comes to them fresh from his previous recording triumphs with Schumann and Rachmaninov, and he brings a lucid expressiveness as his primary tool. This is insufficient to cope with Op.109, which demands a visionary delicacy that Kempf has yet to acquire, but it yields rich dividends in the latter two sonatas. Op.110 unfolds with grave beauty and Op.111 with a powerful momentum. If its final flight feels less than ethereal, it’s still imbued with noble grace. –Michael Church
