Listeners should be grateful that Centurion has re-released these glorious performances by
Wilhelm Kempff of
Mozart and
Beethoven. Grateful for the opportunity to hear
Kempff's heartbreakingly beautiful 1941 recording of
Mozart's Piano Concerto in D minor with
Paul van Kempen conducting the
Dresden Philharmonic, grateful for the opportunity to hear
Kempff's deeply soulful 1942 recording of
Beethoven's Piano Concerto in C minor with the same conductor and orchestra. And especially grateful to hear
Kempff's sublime 1932 recording of
Beethoven's Piano Sonata in F sharp major. Listeners even have to be grateful for the opportunity to hear
Kempff's performances even when they are filtered through the sieve of Centurion's painfully constrained remastering that takes almost all the guts, heart, and soul out of the recording.