Donald Satz wrote:

>This does make me wonder how much longer Kempf will stay on with BIS,
>assuming that major record companies try to get his services.

This is a young fellow who was signed at age 21 for a contract involving
10 recordings, with the choice of material solely his.  I think the one
requirement, because mixed-composer records don't tend to sell as well due
to shops not knowing where to 'place' them, was that each album would be
dedicated to music by one composer.  This is pretty heady stuff, and the
CDs are seeing good distribution with rather good advertising support (not
least of all because his live concerts are so popular in the UK, Russia,
Japan, and other parts of Europe).

In a day when even a James Galway, with all he's done (including
Liebermann's music) is in danger of losing his recording contract due to
the BMG decisions re Classical recordings, a deal like this one, with a
company with the distribution BIS does have, is quite a plus.  I understand
what you mean, though, when we see Sony putting all that muscle behind a
Church or Philips behind a Bocelli...

I am impressed that BIS's owner recognized Kempf's potential, in an area
not usually $$-muscular (piano) enough to sign him for 10 recordings.
What's also good is they're not rushing the releases but taking care with
them and it shows, most of all in the latest one which has such good sound
in addition to playing.

Amazon.co.uk has a feature interview with him, I was e-mailed today, which
includes q&a about how he is choosing what he wants to record.

Andrys in Berkeley
http://www.andrys.com/books.html   search sheet music, videos, CDs
http://www.andrys.com/cbooks.html  newer classical music books