Customer Reviews

Claudio Arrau 3 (III) (Great Pianists of the Century series) - Chopin / Debussy / Granados / Liszt / Mozart / Schubert (2 CDs)

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Contrary to the bitter reviewer below, I find these collected perormances by Claudio Arrau to be wonderful. His tone and poetic intrepretation are on full display; something that "music lovers" will take full note of. His Debussy is the best!! The three editions of the series are great, and I advise all readers to avoid jaded and biased reviews. i.e. below

This set is truly a mixed bag. The Chopin Preludes are generally unsatisfactory; at best rather boring, with little invention (although his tone shines through admirably), at worst stodgy and choked. The crowning glory of the record is his rendition of Vallee d'Obermann; the colours, tone and sense of line here are remarkable and it is perfectly organised. The Debussy is not bad - the lack of ideas is compensated for by the man's exceptional richness of tone. When one listens to the Schubert Moments Musicaux as recorded by the aged Arrau, it is difficult to see why Philips continued recording with him. The reading is staid, turgid and plodding, with dreadfully mannered phrasing and articulation. Again, his tone almost comes to the rescue, but it's fighting a lost cause; these performances are nausea inducing and worthy of mockery - they must be avoided at all costs, especially since there are thousands of other superb versions (Richter, for example). If nothing else, they will make you laugh.