Customer Reviews

Claudio Arrau - Great Pianists of the 20th Century I

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It might seem like a strange thing to recommend, but for me the most impressive performance on this disc is the oldest, a 1926 recording of Balakirev's 'Islamey.' There are three other versions (Gavrilov, Katchen, Ogdon) in the Philips Great Pianists and this one makes the most music out of Balakirev's knucklebuster. The sound is absolutely amazing for its time (with a lot of inobtrusive help from Philips' engineers). You will be amazed at the variety of piano tone, faithful to Arrau's legendary touch, in such an old recording.

Also on the first of these two discs is an inward 'Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue', by Bach. And Liszt's 'Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude' played slowly and intensely; this piece can lose momentum, but not in Arrau's hands.

The second disc is all Brahms: the Paganini Variations, both books, and a majestic First Concerto, played more slowly than we may be used to. The Variations are stunning. The Concerto will not be to everyone's tastes because of the solemn first movement, but in my opinion it works because of the tonal nuance and musical phrasing Arrau brings to it. The second movement is a beautiful song, and the third a rollicking conclusion.

Arrau is one of the very few pianists who has fantastic touch and crystalbright, brilliantly beatiful sound, whatever he plays. If you want to listen Brahms' Paganini variations with strong intensity and brilliant dynamic differences, every single note played with care, buy this CD. In Liszt's Spanish Rhapsody Arrau shows his breathtaking virtuoso skills, but also so beautiful sound and so different colours in different sections in the piece. True master of music, excellent recording.

Philips has undertaken a massive project. They are remastering classic and rediscovered recordings of almost every legendary pianist of the century. As the fourth installment, they have provided an anthology of studio recordings by the Chilean Claudio Arrau. This set is very well remastered (despite surface noise due to age). The performances are exceptional throughout. The price is quite good for a double set.

On this cd contains some of Arrau's much earlier recordings including Balakirev's Islamey and Bach Chromatic Fantasy. Arrau did not play any Bach for much of his mid career because he believed it was best to be played by harpsichord and he did not change this belief until late in his career when he began recording the Bach Partitas for Phillips.

Arrau also did not play much music from Spanish composers as he did not want to be considered a pianist that only play music from South America. On the cd though contains the best Book I of Albeniz's Iberia Suite that you will hear.

The album closes with composers that Arrau was much more commonly associated with through his career in that of Franz Liszt and Johannes Brahms. The Benediction de Dieu dans la solitude and Jes Jeux d'eaux a la Villa d'Este by Liszt will never sound more beautiful with anybody else at the piano. The popularly played Brahms Concerto No. 1 is also not matched by anybody either Daniel Barenboim or Alfred Brendel's versions also found in the Great Pianists of the 20th Century set.

This recording has introduced me to the genius of Claudio Arrau; it has many superb pieces - interesting Balakirev, superb Bach, virtuosic Brahms Variations and deeply intellectual Piano Concerto in D minor; these pieces are justly very famous; yet my heart was stolen by Arrau's playing of "Les jeux d'eaux a la Villa d'Este" by Liszt.

For anyone who had even been to the magical places called Villa d'Este this music will instantly conjure up the images of the palazzo, the garden, the flowers, but most of all, it will bring back the sounds of the stunningly beautiful fountains, their joyful play and versicolors of the waterdrops, iridescent in sunshine. For those who have not been there this music will perhaps entice them to make a pilgrimage to Tivoli to fuse the sound with the view, and to hear the interplay of the fountains.

The nuance of Arrau's playing is in warm and nostalgic emotion; there are a few other great pianists who play the same piece beautifully, but for me personally it was Arrau who made me love Liszt music - at least when it comes to Villa d'Este. It seems to me it is one of the best opus of the composer - although my opinion could be biased due to overwhelming influence of astounding splendour of the Villa.

Liszt composed this piece as part of his Années de pèlerinage, Troisième année. I cite here from another source:
"The title Années de pèlerinage refers to Goethe's famous novel of self-realization, Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship. Liszt clearly places the work in line with the Romantic literature of his time, prefacing most pieces with a literary passage from writers such as Schiller, Byron or Senacour, and, in an introduction to the entire work, writing, "Having recently travelled to many new countries, through different settings and places consecrated by history and poetry; having felt that the phenomena of nature and their attendant sights did not pass before my eyes as pointless images but stirred deep emotions in my soul, and that between us a vague but immediate relationship had established itself, an undefined but real rapport, an inexplicable but undeniable communication, I have tried to portray in music a few of my strongest sensations and most lively impressions."

In this recording, we can hear the most marvelous portrayal, very Romantic indeed, of the ever-joyful lovely fountains of Villa d'Este - indeed a place of the strongest and lovely sensation.

A few more words about some other pieces on this CD - I absolutely loved his Variations on a Theme by Paganini; although his tempo is somewhat slower than of Michelangeli, for example, it has a different kind of virtuosity; perhaps it is his deep involvement with the opus. The Piano Concerto No. 1 in D is a grandiose work, my favorite interpretation before listening to Arrau was by Rudolf Serkin, but I think that here it is a better interpretation, perhaps mostly due to Bernard Haitnik conducting, not to the pianist himself.

All in all, this recording is highly recommended - every single piece on it is a masterpiece of great piano playing indeed.

Gindes' review I think is fairly accurate. However, the first disc especially has some absolutely wonderful playing. The combination of Arrau's characterizations of the music and the distant sound (due to the early technology involved) create an enchanting, mesmerizing experience. The second disc, containing music of Brahms, can be a little bit of a let down. Arrau's approach to the D min. concerto is very ponderous, which at times means boredom and sometimes pathos.