My Top 10 Recordings - no. 1: Kempff/Kinderszenen

When I was about 5 or 6 years old my mom and I began listening together to music. We just sat and listened. 

Classical music never played as background in the house, but my parents listened together to a record once we kids were all in bed. 

So for me listening with my mom felt very special and like a right of passage. 

The first and perhaps deepest experience I had then was Robert Schumann’s Kinderszenen with Wilhelm Kempff. My mom and I talked about our impressions after listening to his recording. I clearly remember the tone and right away knew I wanted to sound just like that at the piano. 

Then a “miracle” happened: my mom’s friend invited me to my first concert experience. She had a subscription for herself and her husband at the main concert hall near my home town. Her husband was unable to go that night, so she took me instead (my mom might have had something to do with this “miracle” which only dawned on me many years later). 

On the program: Wilhelm Kempff playing Schumann including Kinderszenen. 

Kempff was 90 when I heard him that night. He sounded like on the recording only better, clearer, and even more beautiful. I can still hear his sound when I think of that night, and I still today orientate myself on his sound when I perform. 

Maybe this experience is the reason why my very first solo CD includes Schumann’s Kinderszenen. 

Btw: My mom’s friend treated me to vanilla ice cream with hot raspberry sauce during intermission that night. Heaven, and equally unforgettable!