12 Transcendental Etudes

Liszt (Artist), Arrau (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• SPARS Code: ADD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Polygram Records
• ASIN: B0000040Y5
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #205,898 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A landmark recording in Arrau's exemplary career., July 20, 2002

By 

Sancho Sánchez "jmlopeza" (Burwood, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 12 Transcendental Etudes (Audio CD)

Arrau championed Franz Liszt from a very early age, no doubt as a result of insights gained from his teacher and mentor, Martin Kraus, himself a pupil of Liszt. Arrau came to win numerous international prizes and laudatory reviews for his interpretations of Liszt over the years. This recording, made in 1974 and 1976 in rich analogue sound, was first released to coincide with Arrau's 75th birthday's celebrations. The interpretation masterly shows Arrau's deep understanding of, as well as feeling and admiration for, such a pivotal piano work of Liszt. This recording won the 1979 Liszt Record Grand Prix and has become both a benchmark rendition and a stable catalogue item ever since. Indispensable.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Truly moving, profound perspectives on Liszt, April 15, 2009

By 

John S. Favretto "Feldenkrais student" (D.C.) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: 12 Transcendental Etudes (Audio CD)

I don't care what anyone else says - I discovered Arrau's version of the etudes when I was a teenager, and they have haunted me ever since. Many other pianists may play faster or flashier versions (some of them quite exciting and even beautiful, I have to admit), but Arrau delves deep into the music and uncovers meaning, emotion, and inner landscape of Liszt like no one else.

Remember, Arrau CHOSE to play at his own pace, NOT because he had to (not because of lesser technique), but because he WANTED to. He felt the music that way. Many historians of the paino are fond of pointing out that Arrau could have been as much of a bombast gladiator of the keyboard as anyone else - but why should he? To show off? Compete? So he could say "wow - look at ME!!!" ?

That kind of playing was simply anathema to him.

His vision, color and artistry are thrilling to me. Lucky you if you choose to take a listen.....

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Transcendental Music, May 8, 2004

By 

Rudy Avila "Saint Seiya" (Lennox, Ca United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: 12 Transcendental Etudes (Audio CD)

This album is the best showcase for pianist Claudio Arrau, a pianist who is not as well known as Horowitz, Glen Gould or Alfred Brendel, but who is extraordinary. The Transcendental Etudes are no picnic to play on the piano. The virtuosity needed for the polyphonic music calls for rapid raise in octaves, daring leaps and dexterity, usually of the left hand. It's a great work out for an ambitious pianist. Emotional, dramatic and intense, the music of Liszt has never been greater than on this recording which was originally an LP in the 70's. On the cover is the artist himself, Franz List.

Franz Liszt (1811-1886) was a revolutionary new artist of the 19th century music scene. Along with Richard Wagner, he was considered a Prophet Of The Music Of The Future. To some, his dynamic music was too raw, too new and too strange to truly belong to the more aesthetic 19th century. Perhaps they were right. The influence of Franz Liszt on future composers attest to that. Liszt made a symphony orchestra out of the piano. The harmony, the grandeur and the multiple sounds that his Transcendental Etudes display are symphonic in style. The Transcendental Etudes, like their name suggests are studies in uplifting and virtuosic piano music. Arrau performs with great technique. No, he is not "attacking" the keys with his hands. He is full of fire and bravura, as the stormy music is meant to suggest. Liszt was the epitome of the free Romantic Era composer, whose music did not please anyone else better than it pleased him. Liszt had many affairs with prominent and beautiful women of the day - the courtesan Lola Montes, the elegant Countess Marie D'Agoult, with whom he had children, one which was Cosima who later married Richard Wagner. What a small world.

This recording is sure to excite you. It's well-executed, dazzling and electrifying. You can sense how Claudio Arrau is exhausting himself as he plays all the difficult pieces. Perhaps the piano was not meant to sound like this. I, for one, do prefer the more graceful, lyrical and melancholy elegance of Frederic Chopin, but it's ok to get into the dramatics of Franz Liszt. There is so much to like about Liszt. Check out the Phillips Label recording "The Best Of Liszt" which contains some of his Hungarian Rhapsodies, including Number 2, which is the Loony Tunes theme surprisingly enough.