Claudio Arrau

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Claudio Arrau

Claudio Arrau León (February 6, 1903 – June 9, 1991) was a Chilean pianist known for his interpretations of a vast repertoire spanning from the baroque to 20th-century composers, especially Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt, Brahms and Debussy. He is widely considered one of the greatest pianists of the twentieth century.

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[edit] Life and early career

Arrau was born in Chillán, Chile, the son of ophthamologist, Carlos Arrau, and Lucrecia León Bravo de Villalba, a piano teacher. He belonged to an old, prominent family of Southern Chile. His ancestor Lorenzo de Arrau, a Spanish-Basque engineer, was sent to Chile by King Carlos III of Spain. Through his great-grandmother, María del Carmen Daroch del Solar, Arrau was a descendant of the Campbells of Glenorchy, a Scottish noble family.[citation needed]

Arrau was a child prodigy, giving his first concert at age five. At age seven he was sent on a Chilean government grant to study in Germany, at the Stern conservatory of Berlin where he was a pupil of Martin Krause, who had studied under Franz Liszt. At the age of 11 he could play Liszt's Transcendental Etudes, considered to be one of the most difficult sets of works ever written for the piano, and also Brahms's Paganini Variations. Arrau's first recordings were on Aeolian Duo-Art player piano music rolls.

In 1937, Arrau married German Jewish mezzo-soprano Ruth Schneider, and they had three children: Carmen (1938-2006), Mario (1940-1988) and Christopher (1959). The Arraus spent summers at their residence in Andover, Vermont.

Claudio Arrau spent his last days residing in Munich, Germany.

[edit] Tone and approach to music

Many claimed that his rich, weighty tone lent his interpretations a distinctive voice, some saying it sounded thick and muddy and others praising its rounded tone, saying it sounded as though Arrau were almost playing the organ or "plowing" his "paws" into the "flexible" keyboard. According to American critic Harold Schonberg, Arrau always put "a decidedly romantic piano tone in his interpretations".[1]

Arrau was an intellectual and a deeply reflective interpreter. He has been in touch with Jung's psychology since his twenties. [2]

Arrau's attitude toward music was very serious. He preached fidelity to the score. Although he often played with slower and more deliberate tempi from his middle age, Arrau had a reputation for being a fabulous virtuoso early in his career. According to Joseph Horowitz in his book Conversations With Arrau (1982), many critics feel his overall approach became less spontaneous and more reserved and introspective after the death of his mother, to whom he was extremely close.

[edit] Contribution

Arrau was the teacher of Karlrobert Kreiten, Rafael de Silva, Paul Kiss, Edith Fischer, David Lively, Ena Bronstein, Philip Lorenz, Alfonso Montecino, Olga Barabini, Ruth Nye, William Melton, Roberto Szidon, Greville Rothon, Wolfgang Leibnitz, Garrick Ohlsson, Arnulf von Arnim, David Rubinstein, Stephen Drury, the Pekinel sisters, Roberto Eyzaguirre, Bennett Lerner, Dickran Atamian, Goodwin Sammel, Rosalina Sackstein, John Cobb, Clive Britton, Reidrun Rodewald, Antonio Guedes Barbosa, Germán Diez, Fedora Aberastury, Elmma Miranda, John Bell Young, Ines Leyva and Pilar Leyva.

Arrau recorded the comprehensive piano music of Robert Schumann. He edited Beethoven's piano sonatas for the Peters Urtext edition and recorded all of them on the Philips label. He is also famous for his recordings of Schubert, Chopin, Liszt, Brahms and Debussy, among others.

Famous recordings: Beethoven Piano Concertos & Piano Sonatas, Schubert Piano Sonata D.958, Weber Piano Sonata No.1, Chopin Nocturnes, Schumann Carnaval, Liszt Piano Sonata & Etudes d'execution Transcendante, Brahms Piano Concertos & Piano Sonata No.3, Debussy Preludes, Schoenberg Piano Pieces Op.11.

At the time of his death at age 88 in Mürzzuschlag, Austria, Arrau was working on a recording of the complete works of Bach for keyboard, and had Haydn, Mendelssohn, Reger, Busoni and Boulez's 3rd Sonata in preparation. His remains were interred in his native city of Chillán, Chile.

The Robert Schumann Society established the Arrau Medal in 1991. It has been awarded to András Schiff, Martha Argerich and Murray Perahia.


[edit] Awards and Recognitions


  • 1963: Deutscher Schallplattenpreis

Brahms 2 Piano Concertos with Carlo Maria Giulini and Philharmonia Orchestra [EMI Recorded in 1960 & 1962]

  • 1965: Deutscher Schallplattenpreis

Beethoven 5 Piano Concertos with Bernard Haitink and Concertgebouw Orchestra [Philips Recorded in 1964]

  • 1969: Deutscher Schallplattenpreis

Schumann Sonate Op.11, Fantasiestücke Op.111 [Philips Recorded in 1967 & 1968]

  • 1970: Deutscher Schallplattenpreis

Brahms 2 Piano Concertos with Bernard Haitink and Concertgebouw Orchestra [Philips Recorded in 1969]

  • 1971: Edison Award

Liszt Solo Piano Works: Ballade No.2, Jeux d'eaux à la villa d'Este, Petrarch Sonnet 104 & 123, Vallée d'Obermann, Valse oubliée in F sharp [Philips Recorded in 1969]

  • 1975: Liszt Record Grand Prix

Liszt Complete Concert Paraphrases on Operas by Verdi [Philips Recorded in 1971]

  • 1979: Diapason d'Or

Chopin Complete Nocturnes [Philips Recorded in 1977 & 1978]

  • 1979: Caecilia Award, Belgium

Schumann Comprehensive Solo Piano Works [Philips Recorded from 1966 to 1976]

  • 1979: Liszt Record Grand Prix

Liszt 12 Etudes d'exécution Transcendante [Philips Recorded in 1974 & 1976]

  • 1982: Liszt Record Grand Prix

Liszt 2 Piano Concertos with Sir Colin Davis and London Symphony Orchestra [Philips Recorded in 1979]

  • 1989: Japan Record Academy Award

Beethoven 5 Piano Concertos with Sir Colin Davis and Staatskapelle Dresden [Philips Recorded in 1984 (Nos. 4 & 5) and 1987 (Nos. 1, 2 & 3)]

  • 1990: FFFF de Télérama, Diapason d'Or, Grand Prix du Disque, Warsaw Chopin Society's Grand Prix du Disque Frédéric Chopin

Chopin Complete Etudes [EMI Remastering Recorded in 1956, Remastered in 1987]

Grand Prix du Disque:

  • Schumann: Piano Concerto, Carnaval; Beethoven: Sonata No.32. EMI Classics DVD (Classic Archives series)

[edit] Quotes

An interpreter must give his blood to the work interpreted. — Claudio Arrau
Since in music we deal with notes, not words, with chords, with transitions, with color and expression, the musical meaning always based on those notes as written and nothing else - has to be divined. Therefore any musician, no matter how great an instrumentalist, who is not also an interpreter of a divinatory order, the way Furtwängler was, or Fischer-Dieskau is, is somehow one-sided, somehow without spiritual grandeur. — Claudio Arrau

[edit] References

  1. ^ Harold C. Schonberg, The Great Pianists from Mozart to the Present, Simon & Schuster, Second Edition (1987)
  2. ^ Horowitz, J. (1999), Arrau on music and performance. Courier Dover Publications.
  3. ^ Sachs, H., & Manildi, D.: Rubinstein: a life, page 379. Grove Press, 1995.

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudio_Arrau"