Notes and Editorial Reviews
This big 12 CD set is part of EMI’s Icon series. I’ve dipped
into it, but have not listened to everything.
Firstly a necessary word about transfers. Very little here has
been remastered specially for this box. I noted only two Beethoven
sonatas in disc 4; the Op.10 No.3 and Op.78, and the Schubert
Allegretto D915 and the little March D606, which are both to
be found in the ninth disc. Additionally the transfers of the
classic Schumann and Grieg concerto disc derive from Testament’s
release of this material. Everything else dates back variously
Read more
to releases in 1988, 1991, 2001 and 2004 and the like. If you
find this situation not to your liking you will have to wait
until a similarly comprehensive collection arrives with newer
restorations, or cherry pick things from Arrau’s recorded legacy
that most interest you. For the more general listener, this
very competitively priced box offers an opportunity to hoover
a large chunk of his c.1955-62 recordings, adding the pre-war
Schumann Carnaval, which was put onto 78s in April 1938,
the Chopin Tarantelle similarly, and the two Debussy
pieces which followed a year later.
The set therefore concentrates on mid-period Arrau. Companies
such as Marston have brought out editions devoted to his earliest
recordings on 78, and the later recordings, for example concerto
collaborations with Haitink and Colin Davis, are very well known.
Which is not to say that these EMI recordings aren’t well enough
known; they certainly are.
This then is an outline of what you’ll find in this box. There’s
the 1955-58 cycle of the Beethoven concertos with the Philharmonia
and Galliera .in which Arrau excavates a myriad of bass detailing
and plays with a measured assurance not always shared by Galliera.
There are nine sonatas including the Appassionata, Waldstein,
Les Adieux, Opp.110 and 111, EMI capturing the pianist in
a mix of mono and stereo. One can contrast these examples of
his 1950s with the Philips recordings of all 32 sonatas made
in the 1960s. In the main he is a touch more determined and
measured in the later performances, though Philips’ sound is
certainly better. His Appassionata is perhaps the very
best of the Icon sonatas – intensity, rugged selflessness, a
broad conception but one that he sustains perfectly according
to his lights. But running it close is op. 101, in which conception
and execution are in perfect accord, and the tonal qualities
he evinces are wholly impressive. So too for that matter the
last two sonatas, brilliantly realised, intense, nobly powerful,
shorn of all artifice and false gestures.
Both Brahms concertos are with Giulini, and they show both soloist
and conductor in lingering, and loving form - too much so really,
as the powerful romanticism generated tends to work against
the two concertos’s more direct qualities. The Tchaikovsky,
Grieg and Schumann are with Galliera. The Schumann is finely
played, though perhaps a little dour overall. The Grieg is not
Arrau’s finest hour, and his elastic phrasing tends to pull
it about far too much. One wouldn’t immediately turn to Arrau
for Tchaikovsky and indeed one’s presentiment that there will
be a lack of brilliance and bravura is rather borne out. Disc
nine is devoted wholly to Schubert – the D946 Klavierstücke,
the Wanderer Fantasy and the aforementioned Allegretto and March,
but there is also the D780 Moments Musicaux. Also the Third
Chopin sonata and F minor Fantasie, both outstandingly well
done, and all the Etudes.
Finally, you might want to read my review
of Carnaval with differing couplings, but a similarly
disappointing Schumann concerto, in its Naxos release and in
a competing ‘Early’ Arrau two disc set from Marston.
There’s also the < Chopin
Etudes in the same EMI transfer.
Conclusion time: if you’re content with older remasterings,
which are pretty reasonable, than you can confidently acquire
this box. It has central Arrau repertoire in mostly outstanding
performances. It’s also exceptional value for money.
-- Jonathan Woolf, MusicWeb International Read less
Works on This Recording
1.
Concerto for Piano no 1 in C major, Op. 15 by Ludwig van Beethoven
Performer:
Claudio Arrau (Piano)
Conductor:
Alceo Galliera
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philharmonia Orchestra
Period: Classical
Written: 1795; Vienna, Austria
4.
Concerto for Piano no 3 in C minor, Op. 37 by Ludwig van Beethoven
Performer:
Claudio Arrau (Piano)
Conductor:
Alceo Galliera
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philharmonia Orchestra
Period: Classical
Written: 1800; Vienna, Austria
6.
Concerto for Piano no 4 in G major, Op. 58 by Ludwig van Beethoven
Performer:
Claudio Arrau (Piano)
Conductor:
Alceo Galliera
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philharmonia Orchestra
Period: Classical
Written: 1806; Vienna, Austria
16.
Concerto for Piano no 1 in D minor, Op. 15 by Johannes Brahms
Performer:
Claudio Arrau (Piano)
Conductor:
Carlo Maria Giulini
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philharmonia Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1854-1858; Germany
20.
Concerto for Piano in A minor, Op. 16 by Edvard Grieg
Performer:
Claudio Arrau (Piano)
Conductor:
Alceo Galliera
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philharmonia Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1868/1907; Norway
21.
Pieces (3) for Piano, D 946 by Franz Schubert
Performer:
Claudio Arrau (Piano)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1828; Vienna, Austria
Date of Recording: 11/1990
Venue: La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
28.
Etudes (12) for Piano, Op. 10 by Frédéric Chopin
Performer:
Claudio Arrau (Piano)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1829-1833; Poland
Date of Recording: 1956
29.
Etudes (12) for Piano, Op. 25 by Frédéric Chopin
Performer:
Claudio Arrau (Piano)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1832-1836; Paris, France
Date of Recording: 1956
31.
Allegro de concert in A major, B 72/Op. 46 by Frédéric Chopin
Performer:
Claudio Arrau (Piano)
Conductor:
Alceo Galliera
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philharmonia Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1832-1841; Paris, France
32.
Concerto for Piano in A minor, Op. 54 by Robert Schumann
Performer:
Claudio Arrau (Piano)
Conductor:
Alceo Galliera
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philharmonia Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1841-1845; Germany
33.
Carnaval, Op. 9 by Robert Schumann
Performer:
Claudio Arrau (Piano)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1833-1835; Germany
Customer Reviews
Be the first to review this title
Review This Title
