Ugh! So slow! were Vladimir Horowitz’s reactions to Claudio Arrau’s measured, ruminative Beethoven selections featured here. Once you accept the Chilean pianist’s unhurried, Furtwänglerian aesthetic, revelations abound: the majestic calm of the “Emperor”‘s slow movement, the dignified fireworks that grace the “Waldstein”‘s triumphant finale, and an “Andante Favori” that breathes as well as sings. Arrau’s Chopin is more bass-oriented and texturally complex, and less glittery on the surface than others. The Liszt and Schumann works are two pillars of the large-scale Romantic repertoire. Arrau embraces their unabashed rhetoric to the hilt. He never indulges in display for its own sake, and his gorgeous, ample sonority is beautfully recorded. A highly distinctive release in Philips’ Great Pianists series. [10/1/1999]
