Your guide to classical music online

Liszt Arrau Box

Jed Distler

Artistic Quality:

Sound Quality:

This six-disc set contains Claudio Arrau’s complete Liszt output for the Philips label. It includes several items absent from Philips’ “Arrau Edition” Liszt box–namely the two concertos, the 1985 remake of the B minor sonata, Liebestraum No. 3, La Chapelle de Guillaume Tell, and Mephisto Waltz No. 1. Arrau’s Liszt is special for several reasons. For one, he addresses the music’s formidable virtuosic demands by the most scrupulous and honest of technical means. And unlike many Liszt specialists who play free with the composer’s text by way of filling out textures, adding octaves, and composing cadenzas, Arrau takes Liszt’s markings on faith and resists any temptation to speed up or slow down for effect’s sake. Vallée D’Obermann, Funerailles, and La Leggierezza are good examples of the latter.

This does not mean Arrau treats Liszt objectively–far from it. His ample rubatos, bass-oriented sonority, and dynamic breadth probe beneath the music’s surface panache. If you’re looking for charm and scintillation, you’ve picked the wrong pianist. But listen to the rainbow of colors he gets from the arpeggio sprays in Les jeux d’eau à la Villa d’Este, the complete Verdi Paraphrases, or Waldesrauschen and you’ll understand what transcendental virtuosity is all about. Indeed, the 12 Transcendental Etudes reveal Arrau on his most technically and musically impassioned form–no small feat for a pianist in his early 70s. (I previously wrote in detail about some of this set’s key performances, and you can access these comments on Arrau’s 1970 Liszt Sonata and other works by typing Q4610 in “Search Reviews”.)

In the concertos, some listeners may find Arrau reading more than necessary between the lines, and will prefer Richter’s more febrile, vivacious accounts. And certain recordings from Arrau’s last years, like the Mephisto Waltz No. 1 and the aforementioned B minor sonata, lack the energy, rhythmic surety, and power of the pianist’s earlier accounts. Yet few pianists besides Jorge Bolet manage to gild this repertoire to Arrau’s aristocratic specifications. If you love Liszt, you’ll love him even more when you hear Arrau.


Recording Details:

Reference Recording: None for this collection

FRANZ LISZT - Various works

  • Record Label: Philips - 473 775-2
  • Medium: CD

Search Music Reviews

Search Sponsor

  • Insider Reviews only
  • Click here for Search Tips

Visit Our Merchandise Store

Visit Store
  • Ideally Cast Met Revival of Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette
    Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, NY; March 19, 2024—The Met has revived Bartlett Sher’s 1967 production of Gounod’s R&J hot on the heels of its
  • An Ozawa Story, November, 1969
    Much has justifiably been written regarding Seiji Ozawa’s extraordinary abilities and achievements as a conductor, and similarly about his generosity, graciousness, and sense of humor
  • Arvo Pärt’s Passio At St. John The Divine
    Cathedral of St John the Divine, New York, NY; January 26, 2024—When one thinks of musical settings of Christ’s Passion, one normally thinks of the