Writing acutely and evocatively in his accompanying essay about Wilhelm Kempff‚ Stephen Plaistow quotes Alfred Brendel. For Brendel‚ Kempff ‘when the right wind blew could produce some of the greatest piano playing that I have heard’. For him he had ‘trills like rays of light’ and a ‘luminosity that set his sound apart from anybody else’s’. This is of the essence. Kempff was an inspirational artist‚ his performances shaped and coloured by the mood of the moment. Instantly recognisable he played with an entirely unpredictable poetry and grace. Kempff was 75 at the time of this Queen Elizabeth Hall recital‚ but if there are enough spills and flurries to suggest that he had long ago left the routine of the practice room for the more genial pastures of immediate inspiration‚ he finds a poetic gold undreamed of by lesserartists. Gloriously free from all but musical considerations his tempos are fast flowing throughout Brahms’ Third Sonata and there are times when you may sense an insouciance at odds with music of such towering rhetoric and ambition.The Andante’s massive climax has roared its defiance more impressively from others‚ the Scherzo (most epic of waltzes) sounded more resilient and less didactic. Yet just as you register such things you recall a central Trio that is other­worldly and seraphic and‚ overall‚ a freedom to follow a composer in all his richness and idiosyncrasy. Again‚ the Schumann Fantasie abounds in pitfalls and confusions but just when you stop to consider the conclusion to the central march more a tired farewell than an exultant close‚ you remember Kempff’s hypnotic serenity in the central etwas langsamer’s dream world and a finale that is‚ indeed‚ like so much ‘shifting sunset vapour’ (Andrew Porter’s description of the langsam getragen). Papillons is a wonder of charm and vivacity‚ a place where Florestan and Eusebius sing and dance in happy accord‚ their past quarrels long forgotten. As magical as it is generous­hearted‚ this performance is the reverse of stylised or hard­bitten‚ and very much‚ as Plaistow says‚ the playing of ‘a master from a vanished age’. So although this recital hardly equals an earlier concert given at the same venue in the same year (Kempff at his greatest and‚ mercifully‚ also captured on CD by BBC Legends‚ 2/01) it is none the less invaluable with excellent sound quality. Several beautiful photographs of this unique artist and ‘wayward genius’ (Edward Sackville West) provide a crowning touch.