Claudio Arrau (1903–1991) is a pianist fully deserving of the epithet ‘legendary’. His rigorous intellect and sense of the sublime found expression in his transcendent technique and sumptuous, yet lucid sonorities. The recordings in this 24-CD collection, a significant portion of Arrau’s legacy from the years between 1921 and 1962, are indispensable to his extensive discography. They can now be heard in their full glory, thanks to a process of restoration and HD remastering using the original tapes (for recordings from the LP era) or the best available source (for 78s). Among them are four world-premiere releases: Beethoven’s Piano Sonata no.30, op. 109, a Chopin Étude, and two pieces by Liszt.


Born in Chile in 1903, Arrau rose to fame in his youth and enjoyed a lengthy career of the highest distinction in both the concert hall and recording studio, remaining publicly active until two years before his death in 1991 at the age of 88. As the New York Times wrote in its obituary: “In a career that spanned eight decades, Mr. Arrau was prized for an aristocratic approach to the great works of the 19th century. His specialties included the works of Liszt, to which he brought a rare combination of physical power and philosophical insight, and Beethoven, whose sonatas and concertos he played with an Apollonian breadth that many found both poetic and authoritative. His Chopin, Schumann and Debussy, too, were considered models of clarity throughout his long career.”

Arrau’s only major teacher was Martin Krause. As a former student of Franz Liszt, Krause stood as a link to the most influential pianist of the Romantic era. Arrau was also an ardent admirer of Ferruccio Busoni, but this did not prevent him from assimilating the more “objective” approach of older contemporaries such as the pianist Artur Schnabel and the conductor Otto Klemperer. Gramophone has defined Arrau as a pianist who “strived in his playing to fuse the best that the nineteenth- and twentieth-century performing traditions had to offer”.

Describing his approach to playing in a 1975 interview, Arrau said: “Sometimes when I play, I get a sudden flash of new insight into the music. It's a strange and mystical feeling. I think some of the greatest interpretive miracles have happened in this manner.”

“I try to play the way a cat jumps. It must be completely natural. I have promised myself that whenever I feel a kind of routine creeping into my playing, I will stop. Now when I play I am almost in ecstasy, a creative ecstasy, which I wouldn't miss for anything. This is what I live for.”

Claudio Arrau was born in Chile in 1903. A child prodigy, he moved to Berlin at the age of eight to study with Martin Krause, a former pupil of Franz Liszt. Krause died of Spanish flu in 1918; this was a great blow to Arrau, who never went to another teacher.

In the 1920s Arrau enjoyed some sensational successes as a performer, not least in London, and won a number of competitions, notably the Concours international de Genève in 1927.

He made his first electrical recordings in 1928.

In the 1930s Arrau toured internationally, gaining a reputation for vast recital programmes in the spirit of his teacher Krause.

In 1941, 15 years after making his US debut at New York’s Town Hall, Arrau triumphed at Carnegie Hall. This was a major event in his career and he and his wife subsequently settled in the USA. The New York Times called him “a pianist of most exceptional equipment, imagination and unfailing taste.”

Established as a major pianist, Arrau continued to perform around the world and record regularly until he was well into his 80s. (His last public concert was in 1989 and he made his last recording, for Philips, in 1991, the year of his death.)

For 17 years (1967–1984), during the presidencies of both Salvador Allende and Augusto Pinochet, Arrau did not return to his native Chile.

Arrau died in Austria in 1991 after emergency surgery. The Chilean government declared a national day of mourning in his honour.

The recordings in the 24-CD collection, representing a significant portion of Arrau’s legacy, date from the period between 1921 and 1962 (i.e. the first four decades of his long career).

The box brings together:
a) all the recordings that Arrau made over that period for the labels now controlled by Warner Classics: Columbia (UK); Parlophone (UK); HMV Electrola (Germany); Telefunken (Germany);
PLUS
b) additional significant material from other sources: Vocalion (UK) – the label for which Arrau made his first recordings; Vox (Germany); BBC (UK).  

Fully remastered in HD: all the recordings have been remastered by Art et Son Studio, Annecy in 24/192 from original tapes (in the case of LPs) or the best available source available (in the case of 78rpm).

Beethoven is the dominant presence in the box, but Chopin, Schubert, Schumann and Brahms are also substantially represented. In addition there are works by Busoni, Debussy, Granados, Grieg, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Tchaikovsky and Weber.

The solo repertoire includes : 11 Beethoven piano sonatas (among them the “Moonlight”, “Waldstein”, “Les Adieux”, “Appassionata” and the final three sonatas); both sets of Chopin’s Études; Schubert’s complete Moments musicaux, D780, and Schumann’s Carnaval.

In the concertos/concertante works, Arrau is partnered by the Philharmonia Orchestra and conductors Otto Klemperer (Beethoven Concertos nos 3,4 & 5, BBC live recordings from 1957), Carlo Maria Giulini (Brahms Concertos 1 & 2), Alceo Galliera (Beethoven Concertos nos 1-5; Grieg, Schumann, Tchaikovsky, Weber), and Basil Cameron (Brahms Concerto no.1).

The following items are world-premiere releases – never previously available in any format:

CD 4:
Chopin - Études, op.10: no.4 in C sharp minor
Liszt
Valse oubliée no.1, S215/1
Années de pèlerinage, Première année: Suisse, S160: 4. Au bord d'une source
(Recorded in London, 1950)

CD 14:
Beethoven - Piano Sonata no.30 in E major, op.109
(Recorded in London, 1957)