The latest in APR’s valuable series of Wilhelm Kempff reissues brings together all of his non-Beethoven electrical Polydor 78s. Some have previously appeared on CD but never in such clear and present sound quality, thanks to Mark Obert-Thorn’s splendid new transfers.

Collectors familiar with Kempff’s late-period recordings of Bach’s G major French Suite and various Well-Tempered Clavier Preludes and Fugues will hear comparable tonal nuance and attention to voice-leading, albeit with the advantage of the younger pianist’s fresher, suppler fingerwork. The C sharp major and D major Book 1 Preludes’ rapid phrases evoke the image of liquid gold, while the French Suite’s Gigue goes like the wind, rather than the gorgeous gentle breeze of the 1970s stereo remake. Interpretatively speaking, however, the Bach transcriptions do not significantly differ from Kempff’s relatively refined LP-era counterparts.

Regarding Mozart’s A major Sonata, K331, Stephen Siek’s informative annotations claim that ‘Deutsche Grammophon’s engineers gave [Kempff] sufficient space to observe every one of the sonata’s indicated repeats’. That is true of the pianist’s superb LP traversal, but in the 1935 shellac version Kempff actually omitted the first-movement variations’ B section repeats and those in the Menuetto. Kempff also dispenses with repeats in Schubert’s B flat Impromptu: a pity, for the poetic delicacy of his pianism simply delights. He plays the Third and Fourth Moments musicaux with more finesse than in his matter-of-fact stereo version decades later. Schumann’s ‘Aufschwung’ and ‘Träumerei’ receive nothing more nor less than fine, workmanlike readings. Those who contend that Kempff was less of a technician than a musician should hear the ‘Hark, hark! the lark’ transcription. Only a great pianist can produce such insouciant and multi-dimensional virtuosity, and without benefit of post-production editing. A must for Kempff fans and pianophiles alike.