Donald Satz <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >After fixing the mailbox and doing the usual evening chores, I got down to >listening to some of the new music. I opened the BIS disc of Freddy Kempf >playing Schumann, and I noticed that two cd's were in the case. They were >identical - Kempf playing Schumann. I heard him for the first time at the John Ogdon Gala Recital in London at the end of June. He played only "Humoreske", that is included in that CD and that is said to be his fovorite. His performance was the best among pianists (John Lill, who disappointed me very much by playing stiff Shumann's Fantasie, Ogdon's wife, Ovchinikov, etc.) who showed up at that night. In my personal opinion, compared to that recording, he was much more spontaneous and risk-taking in live (so I still prefer Nikolai Demidenko's Humoreske to his for recording of this piece). For example, he played so brilliantly fast octaves of the right hand in Intermezzo that might be the most technically uncomfortable part of Humoreske. In addition to his astonishing technical skills, I thought that he was one of the rare pianists who really understand Schumann's music. I hope to listen to him again. *** Hitoshi Asaoka ([log in to unmask]) ***