William Kapell plays Liszt- legendary Mephisto Waltz 1945

It seems no one has put this up yet,so i took the liberty.One of the greatest if not "the greatest" recording of Franz Liszt's epic-"Presaging 20th century Music document"-the Mephisto Waltz #1-laid down circa 1945 when William Kapell was but twenty two years old.And to those of you who find the slide show distracting,just minimize and listen.h88.

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[rickideemus]

The devil made him do it! This is actually the best version/interpretation out there, IMHO. And the recording is good enough to get every detail across, despite the crackles.

Every other pianist struggles with this piece. Kapell just tosses it out with his diabolical sense of humor.

[philip rostek]

very great indeed

[absolutetruthgirl]

it's amazing that he was only 22...such a tight, cool performance. Bravo!

[John Last]

This piece was an inspiration to piano students when I was in school. My teacher in Ann Arbor could not speak of Kapell without tears coming to his eyes. Apparently Kappel had been included in a small group of piano-playing buddies in Los Angeles for a brief time.

[carl armstrong]

I like William Kapell on this more than Horowitz.He along with Terence Judd were geniuses that left this Earth much too soon.

[girlycajun]

i just found this, and you've resurrected a ghost from my youthful past. Kapell is really untouchable, and he plays this with passion. How he combines passion with precision is diabolical! And his "sense of humor" is great. Effortless. Excellence.

[Carlos Rupert]

maybe liszt never have played mephisto valse in the way that kapell played it, who knows it !, kapell rendition is out of this world for me the best, he had the best left hand ever

[willezurmacht13]

this is my favorite interpretation, and such a handsome man too!

[Adam Židek]

nejlepší provedení Mefistova valčíku č. 1 od Ferenze Liszta v historii klavírní hry

[Paul Ostroff]

You could never be more correct.This great artist simply owned this piece,and this is simply the best recorded performance of it-EVER.Had WK lived a little longer he might well have become the finest pianist of them all,or at least on their level R.I.P. W.K.

[Paul Ostroff]

Best recorded version of all time.TY h for posting

[Liam Kaplan]

at 0:41, it almost looks like it says Rachmaninoff Concerto No. 5, but I think it is just blurred.