what a loss that this genious left us in a planecrash. At that time planes were not sure, even rubinstein was in danger sometimes but had the good luck to make it every time ....
Clara Haskil died in a stupid way also... run for a train and missed the stairs... a big loss too.... its more safe today but there are too many things which disturbs a career today. Its not more easy today..... I think even less as the public is no more responsive as it was at that time....
Either it is what he said, that after many hours of recording he got ''transference'' to get music instead of notes, or simply he was in another class altogether. He is one of the Greatest pianists of All times, he is one of the few models to follow. Thanks for the videos
The Bach Partita is a performance in a class of its own. It appears to come from a world at once timeless and totally modern, to be painfully expressive and yet utterly objective, rigorously in time and yet totally flexible. I can't think of anything more poignant and eloquent and it illustrates perfectly his comments about making music and just playing notes. God bless you, William Kapell, you really were too good a pianist and too great a human being to be fully at home in our finite world.
A young Robert De Niro would have been the perfect casting choice for the life of Kapell.The De Niro of The Last Tycoon,in that he looked like either Willie or Gershwin.Heck their voices even sound alike a certain NY quality.
If you have the CD set that BMG made a few years ago, try to get the corresponding LP records. The transfers in most cases are not very good, and the LPs have a great deal more presence. I am specifically thinking of LM 1715 and LM 1865.
Claudia Cassidy told me William Kapell was going to become a Columbia Records artist. He would have been their star pianist, and recorded concerti with Ormandy and The Philidelphia Orchestra.
I still remember my father telling me some stories about Kapell. I keep with me this LP "Kapell in memorian", where shows his face in the cover, eyes little bit closed like if his was drunk; a drunkenness caused by music, the love of his life. I won't forget that expression in his face, like knowing his time was close to the end. I was very young and unlucky to meet him but I felt a hugh sadness I can't express when heard about it.
He was indeed a great mystic man, God bless you Kappell!
William Kapell was my first love. We never met, though I heard him at a Minneapolis Symphony youth concert in my adolescence. Later I spent hours sitting in a cold corridor of the U of MN's Music Building, listening to him practice. His plane crashed a few weeks later. [Mary Ann]
I remember hearing Kapell live on the radio several times. As a young piano student I was sort of "tuned in" to good playing. Kapell's art was unlike anything I had ever heard. It spoke to me. Later, I was in the military during the Korean War and in October 1953 was in Tripler Army Hospital near Honolulu. I had a little radio on my pillow and that's how I heard about the crash. I have never gotten over it, never in all these long years lost the feeling of deprivation.
The greatest American pianist who ever lived and I fear who ever will live and one of the truly greatest pianists of all time. Many of his performances are the best of all time of those works in my opinion: e.g. Liszt Mephisto Waltz, Prokofiev 3rd piano concerto, Rachmaninoff 2nd Concerto and Paganini Rhapsody, Chopin 2nd and 3rd Sonatas (with deference to Rachmaninoff and Lipatti, respectively possibly), and so forth and so on.
I fully agree with you. Those recorded performances, as many times as I've listened to them, still leave me amazed and thankful. Also, his recording of the Liszt 11th Hungarian Rhapsody is in my opinion the greatest ever made of this piece.
What an extraordinary artist! His loss is incaluable. There hasn't been anyone quite like him, possibly not before, and certainly not since.
legatofancier 2 months ago
what a loss that this genious left us in a planecrash. At that time planes were not sure, even rubinstein was in danger sometimes but had the good luck to make it every time ....
Clara Haskil died in a stupid way also... run for a train and missed the stairs... a big loss too.... its more safe today but there are too many things which disturbs a career today. Its not more easy today..... I think even less as the public is no more responsive as it was at that time....
uhartchristian 2 years ago
he escuchado mas de 20 versiones del 2 de rachmaninoff y ninguno supera la suya!
gonzal0999 2 years ago
Either it is what he said, that after many hours of recording he got ''transference'' to get music instead of notes, or simply he was in another class altogether. He is one of the Greatest pianists of All times, he is one of the few models to follow. Thanks for the videos
aryolkary 3 years ago 2
The Bach Partita is a performance in a class of its own. It appears to come from a world at once timeless and totally modern, to be painfully expressive and yet utterly objective, rigorously in time and yet totally flexible. I can't think of anything more poignant and eloquent and it illustrates perfectly his comments about making music and just playing notes. God bless you, William Kapell, you really were too good a pianist and too great a human being to be fully at home in our finite world.
smudgepots 3 years ago 2
Horowitz does not strike me as particularly handy, larsnelissen, but Michelangeli did know something about airplanes, I believe.:-)
mltube 3 years ago
Horowitz and Michelangeli must have sabotaged the airplane to prevent this growing genius Kapell to endanger their place in the piano world!
larsnelissen 3 years ago
A young Robert De Niro would have been the perfect casting choice for the life of Kapell.The De Niro of The Last Tycoon,in that he looked like either Willie or Gershwin.Heck their voices even sound alike a certain NY quality.
harriter88 3 years ago
De Niro would have made a hash of it. Better Brad Dourif or Kevin Anderson or even Kevin Kline, once a concert-level pianist himself.
Brianjonestown 3 years ago
If you have the CD set that BMG made a few years ago, try to get the corresponding LP records. The transfers in most cases are not very good, and the LPs have a great deal more presence. I am specifically thinking of LM 1715 and LM 1865.
Claudia Cassidy told me William Kapell was going to become a Columbia Records artist. He would have been their star pianist, and recorded concerti with Ormandy and The Philidelphia Orchestra.
Kapell1959 3 years ago
Superb! Bravo! TY.
paulostroff99 3 years ago
May he be forever blessed-wherever he might be! Bravo! TY.
paulostroff99 3 years ago
I still remember my father telling me some stories about Kapell. I keep with me this LP "Kapell in memorian", where shows his face in the cover, eyes little bit closed like if his was drunk; a drunkenness caused by music, the love of his life. I won't forget that expression in his face, like knowing his time was close to the end. I was very young and unlucky to meet him but I felt a hugh sadness I can't express when heard about it.
He was indeed a great mystic man, God bless you Kappell!
nietzschemasterclass 4 years ago
William Kapell was my first love. We never met, though I heard him at a Minneapolis Symphony youth concert in my adolescence. Later I spent hours sitting in a cold corridor of the U of MN's Music Building, listening to him practice. His plane crashed a few weeks later. [Mary Ann]
mahfeldman 4 years ago
I remember hearing Kapell live on the radio several times. As a young piano student I was sort of "tuned in" to good playing. Kapell's art was unlike anything I had ever heard. It spoke to me. Later, I was in the military during the Korean War and in October 1953 was in Tripler Army Hospital near Honolulu. I had a little radio on my pillow and that's how I heard about the crash. I have never gotten over it, never in all these long years lost the feeling of deprivation.
stan724 4 years ago
But Mr. Kapell's spirit lives on; in a way we don't lose him.
StPaul1961 3 years ago
The greatest American pianist who ever lived and I fear who ever will live and one of the truly greatest pianists of all time. Many of his performances are the best of all time of those works in my opinion: e.g. Liszt Mephisto Waltz, Prokofiev 3rd piano concerto, Rachmaninoff 2nd Concerto and Paganini Rhapsody, Chopin 2nd and 3rd Sonatas (with deference to Rachmaninoff and Lipatti, respectively possibly), and so forth and so on.
Bravo Kapell. We'll never forget you!
sll10 4 years ago
I fully agree with you. Those recorded performances, as many times as I've listened to them, still leave me amazed and thankful. Also, his recording of the Liszt 11th Hungarian Rhapsody is in my opinion the greatest ever made of this piece.
stan724 4 years ago
Yes I forgot about that 11th Rhapsody. Excellent. Also his 2nd Beethoven piano concerto performance is excellent too, imo.
sll10 4 years ago
And Pictures at an Exhibition (Arbiter)
avdaxes 4 years ago
This was a wonderful artist...What a moving story and what a terrible loss for the music world.
manymanero 4 years ago
Thank you, a true artist in every way, Kapell will never be forgotten
mahlonmahlon 4 years ago
Thanks for this video, he was one of the great artists of piano playing, great tribute to him.
carlosbonds2513 4 years ago