Liszt: Années de Pèlerinage, Italie (Excerpts); Gondoliera; Deux Légendes

The great German pianist Wilhelm Kempff (1895-1991) aimed at all times for expression, for lyricism, and for the emotional heart of the music. That made him a peerless and pioneering Liszt interpreter: an artist who saw past the virtuoso glitter and mountainous technical difficulty of works like the two Légendes recorded here, and found their profoundly Romantic soul. It’s an approach that’s even more revealing in the magical tone-painting of the Années de pèlerinage: in Kempff’s hands, they really are like pages from an intimate diary. This wasn’t his first recording of this music, but it was the first time in stereo, and was hailed as an instant classic upon its release in 1975.