With a virtuosity that was very real, yet never drew attention to itself, Kempff’s Schubert was at its heart penetrating and inspired and the depth of his performances could convey the intimacy of a chamber ensemble or project the works as great symphonies for keyboard.

It was Kempff’s perception that it was the function of a pianist’s virtuosity to serve, not to exploit; always the music had to be paramount. Like many great artists he was notably erratic, but any impulsiveness or spontaneity was always driven by artistic will and the search for new discoveries. Such was his inspiration, his recordings over his 60 year career – most of it for DG – are a treasure house of discovery; his Schubert recordings being among the finest examples, and not least remaining reference recordings of the repertoire.