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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
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A Missing Link
This set is revelatory, not only for those who honor the name of William Kapell, but for any listener who yearns for truly probing interpretations of the repertoire. It was always assumed that the Australian broadcasts were recorded, and now, thanks to those committed to making these performances publicly available, the world can now hear the last artistic utterances of a great genius who was literally days from his death. Kapell had forceably enlarged his repertoire to include probing interpretations of J.S. Bach, Schubert, Chopin Mazurkas, and Mozart, in a way that seemingly indicated he knew he had a limited amount of time to create his lasting artistic credo. On the other hand, he was 31 years old when he died, and the interpretations heard on this disc are those of a young man, a young artist, who would have plumbed even greater depths, had he lived longer. When one listens to this wonderful cross section of repertoire representing Kapell's choices of what would represent him in the broadest, truest manner on his Australian tour, one must conclude that he occupied a very large place in the history of performed music, even at his age. Do not miss the opportunity to own this set.
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A Journey Back in Time
When I first heard that these recording by William Kapell were available I thought they might have been part of an archive found by an Australian Broadcast Corporation. The reality was a bit disappointing in that Kapell's final performances were preserved in an off-the-air recording made by a music enthusiast. I had to conclude that the quality of the recordings could only be abysmal, despite that we owe a debt of gratitude that these performances were preserved.
I was curious, however, and purchased the records and, yes, the sound played over our stereo system reminded me of the worst recordings from the 1930's. I did find that listening through headphones made the sound more bearable. There also were some gaps in three of the recordings that were filled by using other earlier recordings by William Kapell: a gap at the end of the third movement of the Third Piano Concerto, the closing bars of Gates of Kiev and the first movement of the Bach Suite.
The performances are wonderful and demonstrate Kapell's range of expression from the delicacy of Mozart to the dissonances of Prokofiev. The Mussorgsky is magical; the subtle shadings of the Suite bergamasque are marvelous to hear. The Chopin, particularly the Scherzo, is played with great passion and energy. The second disc hold music Kapell had never recorded: Debussy's Suite bergamasque, Chopin's Barcarolle and Scherzo No. 1, and Prokofiev's Sonata No. 7. When one considers that Kapell could be alive today the shortness of his time is brought all the more into focus and the music on these discs becomes all the more precious and remarkable. It is difficult to assign stars to this collection. The sound may be poor but the performances are priceless. So the reason I have assigned 5 stars is due to the importance of the final performances of William Kapell.
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William Capell newly issued recordings
After listening to a recording of one of William Capell's performances on the radio and being enchanted by it, I was excited to read that a CD of his Australian concerts performed shortly before he died was available. There is no doubt that the playing is extraordinary, and perhaps he is indeed, to quote a radio commentator, the best pianist of the 20th Century. But the recording itself is difficult to listen to because of the background noise and hiss, which has not been cleaned up. But if you are an ardent William Capell fan, you probably will want to have this added to your collection. I plan to send this CD to the radio commentator who admires him so much. I just can't listen to it again. I wish the producer had been able to clean up the sound. Pity.
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Glorious Pianism!!!
I have been an ardent admirer of William Kapell for years and thought that it was time for me to put my "two cents" in.I have collected all
I could get my hands on.Not just Kapell recordings but newspaper clippings,and even publications featuring his letters and work diaries.
Now to the recording at hand.I could easily become an "arm chair" sound
engineer like some of the other reviewers,but I wont.I am just so grateful
and full of joy that these recordings are available at all.I am also grateful to William Kapell for how he suffered for his art with all of his hard work.The great ones make it look and sound so easy.I continually
gain so much from hearing these interpretations,and I hope that the well
is not totally dry as far as undiscovered recordings. BRAVO!!!
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Wonderful musician, terrible presentation
It was with great anticipation that I awaited the release of this latest Kapell recording. Certainly, I would suggest that any Kapell fan purchase this set immediately, due to the pianist's outstanding qualities.
2 major criticisms, however. First, the packaging is terrible. A cardboard exterior glued to thin plastic cases simply becomes tattered and worn in a very short space of time. Also, the liner notes are glued to the inside of the case. The case must be fully open in two directions in order to read the notes. It would seem that the company which designed the case is more familiar with designing cases for 'pop' albums.
Secondly, why splice and insert totally disparate recordings into these performances? Consumers of this type of product are usually collectors interested in specific performance values. We accept incomplete or poor recordings knowingly. Personally, I would prefer an incomplete original. A spliced recording (and very poorly executed at that) adds nothing. In fact, it detracts from the performance. This is a sorry miscalculation on the part of Sony and those responsible for this set. Nevertheless, it is Kapell so, enjoy.
