Customer Reviews

Claudio Arrau, The 80th Birthday Recital - Recorded Live at Avery Fisher Hall, New York City [VHS]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A piano Maestro on duty for his 80th birthday, relying on his unfailing technique to deliver mature, masterly renditions of deeply loved works he has been demonstrating to several new generations possibly ever since his formal European début recital at Kunstlerhaus on 10 December 1914!
This KULTUR edition includes a presenter (slightly intrusive at times) and a most lovely surprise at the end which I should not reveal. The original Philips VHS edition (no longer available) and the Hong Kong Philips DVD copy (occasionally available on eBay) do not include the above lovely surprise or have the benefit of a presenter.
Item indispensable for serious collectors.

Maestro Claudio Arrau's interpretations are second to none. It does not matter who the composer is, seldom have I heard a pianist who interprets compositions so well and his technique is unmatched. His recordings of Chopin's Etudes are also amazing. He has this uncanny ability to transcend himself with the mind-set that is required for any composer whose works he performs.

His recording of Beethoven's Appassionata is a revelation (especially at 80).

I would give anything to resurrect him, so I could potentially enter his piano competitions and learn from this grand master. Maestro Claudio Arrau *is* a genius.

A piano Maestro on duty for his 80th birthday, relying on his unfailing technique to deliver mature, masterly renditions of deeply loved works he has been demonstrating to several new generations possibly ever since his formal European début recital at Kunstlerhaus on 10 December 1914!
This KULTUR edition includes a presenter (slightly intrusive at times) and a most lovely surprise at the end which I should not reveal. The original Philips VHS edition (no longer available) and the Hong Kong Philips DVD copy (occasionally available on eBay) do not include the above lovely surprise or have the benefit of a presenter.
Item indispensable for serious collectors.

There are many versions of this historical and emotional event.
This Kultur release is the only one wich contains the FULL recital ( it includes Chopin's first Scherzi ).The other commercial releases by Philips ( VHS,Laserdisc and a Japanese DVD ) have consistantly ommited the Chopin piece for reasons
never explained since the whole recital lasts less than 2 hours.
The annoying but instructive comments by the host ( Martin Bookspan ) are also entiredly ommited on the Philips videos.
The so called "surprise" by your reviewer is also an incomplete
one,since the original live broadcast ( TVN,Chile ) carried other
"surprises" not contained here.
For Arrau admirers this a definitive and emotional document containing masterworks never available on any other video formats:the Liszt,Debussy and Chopin pieces.This are definitive
performances.
Except for the completeness of this release,the Japanese DVD ( a
single-layered release,so not of highest possible quality one ) is of a marginal better video quality.The long extinguished Philips Laserdisc offered the best video of this recital,so we
can only hope that some day we will have either a Dual-Layered
DVD or a BluRay release of the complete event.Since EuroArts is
releasing some of the Arrau videos originally released by Kultur in the VHS format a couple of decades ago,it's likely they will
release this treasure on DVD soon enough