Philips observes the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Claudio Arrau’s birth with a 10-disc set bursting with a well-selected overview of the great pianist’s repertory. For the most part, it represents the keyboard lion in the winter of a long career that spanned recording technologies from early electricals to squeaky-clean digital.
The earliest items hold special interest since they include the first CD releases of Arrau’s 1952 Beethoven Diabelli Variations and his 1953 Chopins–the Ballades, Impromptus, Scherzos, and the Barcarolle, all first-rate performances. Comparisons with Arrau’s later, better-known versions challenge the notion that he became slow and stolid by 1980. Total timings of the two Diabellis are close enough not to matter; some individual variations are actually faster in 1985, the major difference being the later version’s more expansive pacing of the final three variations. Temporal time is a superficial measuring tool, and the earlier version has a bit more forward thrust, suggesting firmer rhythms. Similarly, timings for the Chopins vary by only a few seconds, faster in the 1977 Ballades, mixed elsewhere–although, as in the B minor Scherzo, the later versions tend toward slightly heavier slow sections. But the evenness and articulation in Arrau’s runs testify to a technique still intact in the early 1980s.
The rest of the set comprises reissues of familiar recordings made between the early 1960s and 1992: more Beethoven (two sonatas and a poetic Fourth Concerto with Colin Davis); Brahms (Sonata No. 2 and a not entirely successful First Concerto with Haitink); exquisite Mozart (uncovering layers of profundity in the K. 511 Rondo and Fantasias K. 397 and 475); Schumann (Fantasie in C, Humoresque, Nachtstücke); two discs of Liszt (a magnificent Transcendental Etudes, the B minor Sonata, a powerful Vallée d’Obermann, and a pair of Verdi paraphrases alongside a merely good Second Concerto with Davis); and Schubert (a beautifully sculpted D. 958 Sonata, the C minor Allegretto, and a labored 1990 Drei Klavierstücke D. 946).
The latter has no place in a “tribute” album; nor does the 1991 Bach Partita No. 5, clearly reflecting the inroads of age. The Bach shares the last disc with Book 2 of Debussy’s Preludes, which display Arrau’s brilliant color effects and sensitivity to their harmonic adventurousness, making it regrettable that he didn’t record even more of that composer’s music.
Anyone who saw Arrau in concert knows that microphones never really captured his resplendent tone. His powerful, bass-oriented sound had a unique tonal depth, shrinking on CD to an often plummy tone only slightly richer than others’. The set’s sound is variable; the early Diabelli’s are over-reverberant, the later recordings better. But at budget price you get mostly great performances of great music in decent sound. It’s a limited edition, which means it probably will be deleted soon–so grab this while you can. [7/12/2003]
