Claudio Arrau

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Claudio Arrau (February 6, 1903 - June 9, 1991) was a Chilean-American pianist, of world fame because of his interpretations of a huge repertory spanning from the baroque to 20th century composers.

Claudio Arrau was born in Chillan, the son of a pianist and an eye doctor. He was a child prodigy, giving his first concert at age 5. At age 7 he was send on a Chilean government grant to study in Germany, where he was a pupil of Martin Krause, who had studied under Franz Liszt.

Teacher of, a.o., Karlrobert Kreiten.

"An interpreter must give his blood to the work interpreted." (C. Arrau)

At the time of his death in MÃÂÃÂ¼rzzuschlag, Austria, he was working on a CD recording of the complete works of Bach for keyboard.

Recordings

Arrau resists classification. Gifted with superb technique and a temperament that included romantic and analytical aspects, his playing was always insightful and entertaining. However, it can also be glib and self-indulgent. His early recordings are still the best, including Chopin etudes (EMI 61016) and Sonata 3 and Schumann's Carnaval (EMI 64025). Also fascinating are Balakirev's Islamey and Busoni's Carmen Fantasy, a CD with material from the 1930s that includes Liszt's Spanish Rhapsody (Dante 001).

In the 1960s and 70s Arrau recorded most of the mainstream piano repertoire for Philips, with mixed results. Best are his Liszt, Beethoven, and Debussy; the Brahms and Chopin solo works are less successful. A Beethoven set includes all the sonatas, concertos, and variations, recorded between 1962 and 1985; this is one of the great traversals of the sonatas, and a real bargain (Philips 462358, 14CD).  Beware of the Final Sessions on Philips.  These four releases from 1993, with music of Bach, Debussy, and Schubert, are an unfortunate postscript to a great career.