Claudio Arrau
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Claudio Arrau León (February 6, 1903–June 9, 1991) was a Chilean pianist of world fame for his interpretations of a huge repertory spanning from the baroque to 20th-century composers. He is considered one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century.
Arrau was born in Chillán, the son of eye doctor Carlos Arrau and Lucrecia León. He belonged to an old and prominent family of Southern Chile. His ancestor Lorenzo de Arrau was sent to Chile by King Carlos III of Spain.
Arrau was a child prodigy, giving his first concert at age 5. At age 7 he was sent on a Chilean government grant to study in Germany, where he was a pupil of Martin Krause, who had studied under Franz Liszt. At the age of 11 he could play Liszt's Transcendental Etudes, considered to be one of the most difficult sets of works ever written for the piano, and also Brahms's Paganini Variations.
Arrau was the teacher of Karlrobert Kreiten, Paul Kiss, Edith Fischer, Alfonso Montecino, Ena Bronstein, Philip Lorenz, Olga Barabini, Ruth Nye, Roberto Bravo, among others.
Daniel Barenboim, Garrick Ohlson, Arnulf von Arnim, David Rubinstein, Bennett Lerner, Dickran Atamian, Aquiles Delle Vigne, Roberto Szidon, Rosalina Sackstein, John Cobb, Clive Britton, Reidrun Rodewald, Antonio Guedes Barbosa, German Diez, Fedora Aberastury, Elmma Miranda, Güher Pekinel and Süher Pekinel and others also received lessons from Maestro Arrau.
Arrau recorded the complete piano music of Robert Schumann, and edited his works for publication, as well as all Beethoven Sonatas. He is also famous for his recordings of Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms, Liszt, Chopin, Schubert and Debussy, among others. He played with style and passion, with an amazing and incomparable technique. He is said to have had a warm persona, and his playing is consistent with this description. In particular his rich, weighty tone, which has been likened to vintage Burgundy wine, lends his interpretations a distinctive voice. It has been controversial, with some saying it sounded thick and muddy and others praising its rounded tone, saying it sounded as though Arrau were almost playing the organ or "plowing" his "paws" into the "flexible" keyboard. Although he often played with slower and more deliberate tempi from his middle age, Arrau had a reputation for being a virtuoso early in his career. Many critics feel his overall approach became less spontaneous and more reserved and introspective after the death of his mother, to whom he was extremely close.
At the time of his death in Mürzzuschlag, Austria, Arrau was working on a compact disc recording of the complete works of Bach for keyboard.
In 1937 Arrau married German Jewish mezzo-soprano Ruth Schneider, and they had three children: Carmen (1938-2006), Mario (1940-1988) and Christopher (1959). He had a happy family life with his wife and children. The Arraus were a very close family and used to pass summers at Douglaston, where the pianist had a summer residence.
It is interesting to note that through his great-grandmother, María del Carmen Daroch del Solar, Arrau was a descendant of the Campbells of Glenorchy, a very prominent Scottish noble family. He was a distant relative of Francesca von Thyssen-Bornemisza de Kászon, daughter-in-law of Otto von Habsburg. They both descended from Sir John Campbell of Glenorchy, father of the first Earl of Breadalbane.
Quotes
- An interpreter must give his blood to the work interpreted. — Claudio Arrau
- Since in music we deal with notes, not words, with chords, with transitions, with color and expression, the musical meaning always based on those notes as written and nothing else - has to be divined. Therefore any musician, no matter how great an instrumentalist, who is not also an interpreter of a divinatory order, the way Furtwängler was, or Fischer-Dieskau is, is somehow onesided, somehow without spiritual grandeur. — Claudio Arrau
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