Hats off, ladies and gentlemen . . . An Angel on the piano! Arrau played the tempo just right. A perfect example of virtuosity serving poetry. Absolutely mesmerising.
I immediately was struck and held captive by the first few bars of this piece. I had heard Arrau played Liszt well but was amazed at how he made sonic poetry out of the exquisite, passionate sensitivity that Liszt captures in this sensuous meditation. Blessed be the soul of Liszt as it comes forth from the mind and heart of Arrau.
10:27, 11:19, 16:52, 17:03 and/or 17:20 Does anybody else but me cry at this(these) part(s), like being evolved by such a heavy loneliness feeling? 😢😢😢
@Thiago I cried all over the keyboard, actually! My very first piano teacher was a close friend of Claudio Aarau, who spent time studying with him at the Berlin Conservatorium. She was deported to Auschwitz and had to play with the prisoners' orchestra. Her worst ever memory was to play during prisoners' hanging, which included her daughter, a young promising dancer. I've seen her daughter's photo she preserved and always kept on her piano. She took me to several of Aarau's concerts, and we always sat in the middle of the first rank, very close to him. Toward the end of his public time, he was strongly asthmatic, and his heavy breathing used to cover some of his pianissimi. My teacher's emotions are permanently engraved in my memories. Aarau's rendering here is adding a sense of vibrato in this miraculously light prayer which I find extremely touching. It looks like he wanted the right hand thumb theme to never finish, in a "perpetuum immobile" fashion. That slowness makes it more eternal, in line perhaps with Liszt's religious intention Until I heard it, I would have preferred Stephen Hough's version. your comments anyway. Stay confined and well and thanks for sharing!
Claudio Arrau’s pianism is proof that technique alone is an empty shell without the gift of music-making. Horowitz and Arrau are still the poets of the piano. Yes, I have heard some of the best pianists alive today. Their technical skills are indeed admirable, but I don’t know why Claudio Arrau’s pianism is so passionate, unique, pellucid and beautiful!!! Of course, Vladimir Horowitz too had soul for the piano...perhaps my opinions are to be appraised as subjective and blinkered, but just listen to this recording and marvel on the ethos of former pianists.
Whatever the composer's written intentions, the opening tempo seems natural to me. If everyone played music exactly as written, it would be a fairly boring world!
+Echoherb Arrau’s tempo is definitely congenial to this immense prayer. It’s a meditation in solitude where every attempt to rush should be banned. Arrau understood that, which makes his the most beautiful recording of this work.
+Echoherb Just out of curiosity and for the spark of a good conversation mister Echo, because of your honest and true comment which I do agree with, how do you feel with the tempo then of this astonishing recording of Arrau? Do you find it is too heightened in speed or were you just moreso than not just making a general statement? Pleasure!
+CziffraTheThird Arrau plays it at the perfect tempo in my opinion. My original reason for posting that comment was in response to the criticism this particular recording gets of being too slow. It's definitely played slower than most recordings of the piece. Perhaps a more clear sentence would have been "I honestly believe this music loses a lot of meaning at faster tempos than is currently being played in this recording". When the piece is played much faster, for example with Marc-Andre Hamelin's recording (one of my favorite pianists by the way) it loses a lot of its meditative beauty. I feel like Arrau's playing captures the spirit of the piece, and he's able to really pull out the best possible beauty of the piece just by taking his time. :D
I am inclined to agree with those who feel Arrau's tempo is too slow. For my taste the British pianist Stephen Hough gives the ideal recorded performance, whereas Arrau is rather studied and Germanic in approach (perhaps as a result of his early schooling in Berlin) Hough allows the music to flow spontaneously with beautifully controlled tonal shadings.
The left hand is surely too "present" in the first section; shouldn't it be a cushion into which the right hand sinks? It sounds like a practice run-through to make sure the left hand is "secure". And the simple little melody in the middle sounds like ... well, I think even I could make it more expressive! Sorry, Arrau fans (I've never been one!). Thanks for posting.
Have you heard Hamelin? For me, he judges the tempo perfectly and brings a unifying quality to the work's structural freedom. I feel you are rather dismissive concerning Arrau's very different interpretation, the latter was a thoughtful and perceptive musician with a wonderful command of the instrument. The choice of tempi in any composition can be a debatable matter, and therefore a matter of personal taste.
When you hear, listen to something that touches your soul...why, God For bid U Tube, aka Google...am completely disgusted by your self serving, tone deaf interruption with mindless advertiser...which is a testament to..a cry for attention...
No-one played Liszt more beautifully than Arrau.
Hats off, ladies and gentlemen . . . An Angel on the piano!
Arrau played the tempo just right. A perfect example of virtuosity serving poetry. Absolutely mesmerising.
Thank you! Claudio Arrau is my hero, as an artist and as a human being.
I immediately was struck and held captive by the first few bars of this piece. I had heard Arrau played Liszt well but was amazed at how he made sonic poetry out of the exquisite, passionate sensitivity that Liszt captures in this sensuous meditation. Blessed be the soul of Liszt as it comes forth from the mind and heart of Arrau.
10:27, 11:19, 16:52, 17:03 and/or 17:20
Does anybody else but me cry at this(these) part(s), like being evolved by such a heavy loneliness feeling?
😢😢😢
@Thiago
I cried all over the keyboard, actually!
My very first piano teacher was a close friend of Claudio Aarau, who spent time studying with him at the Berlin Conservatorium.
She was deported to Auschwitz and had to play with the prisoners' orchestra. Her worst ever memory was to play during prisoners' hanging, which included her daughter, a young promising dancer.
I've seen her daughter's photo she preserved and always kept on her piano.
She took me to several of Aarau's concerts, and we always sat in the middle of the first rank, very close to him. Toward the end of his public time, he was strongly asthmatic, and his heavy breathing used to cover some of his pianissimi. My teacher's emotions are permanently engraved in my memories.
Aarau's rendering here is adding a sense of vibrato in this miraculously light prayer which I find extremely touching.
It looks like he wanted the right hand thumb theme to never finish, in a "perpetuum immobile" fashion.
That slowness makes it more eternal, in line perhaps with Liszt's religious intention
Until I heard it, I would have preferred Stephen Hough's version. your comments anyway.
Stay confined and well and thanks for sharing!
I cry because I am a pianist and everything has been taken away from us. No concerts. But this piece and this pianist....
Unforgettably beautiful singing tone, he makes you forget about the piano being a percussion instrument...
great, deep-felt interpretation. Arrau was amazing
Claudio Arrau’s pianism is proof that technique alone is an empty shell without the gift of music-making. Horowitz and Arrau are still the poets of the piano. Yes, I have heard some of the best pianists alive today. Their technical skills are indeed admirable, but I don’t know why Claudio Arrau’s pianism is so passionate, unique, pellucid and beautiful!!! Of course, Vladimir Horowitz too had soul for the piano...perhaps my opinions are to be appraised as subjective and blinkered, but just listen to this recording and marvel on the ethos of former pianists.
Yes
Yes
Ethereal music, beautifully voiced.
Es un placer ARRAU se quedo parasiempre
Divina obra
Whatever the composer's written intentions, the opening tempo seems natural to me. If everyone played music exactly as written, it would be a fairly boring world!
I find that melody from 10.29 onwards so haunting......
Pero cómo se les ocurre poner publicidaaaaaaaaaaad qué inconscientes 😭 cuando todavía ni termina la primera parte!
17:20
No me acuerdo si la compuso cuado se quedo en el convento a los 70 años pues fallecio a los 72 años
I honestly believe this music loses a lot of meaning at faster tempos.
+Echoherb Arrau’s tempo is definitely congenial to this immense prayer. It’s a meditation in solitude where every attempt to rush should be banned. Arrau understood that, which makes his the most beautiful recording of this work.
+Echoherb Just out of curiosity and for the spark of a good conversation mister Echo, because of your honest and true comment which I do agree with, how do you feel with the tempo then of this astonishing recording of Arrau? Do you find it is too heightened in speed or were you just moreso than not just making a general statement? Pleasure!
+CziffraTheThird Arrau plays it at the perfect tempo in my opinion. My original reason for posting that comment was in response to the criticism this particular recording gets of being too slow. It's definitely played slower than most recordings of the piece. Perhaps a more clear sentence would have been "I honestly believe this music loses a lot of meaning at faster tempos than is currently being played in this recording". When the piece is played much faster, for example with Marc-Andre Hamelin's recording (one of my favorite pianists by the way) it loses a lot of its meditative beauty. I feel like Arrau's playing captures the spirit of the piece, and he's able to really pull out the best possible beauty of the piece just by taking his time. :D
I am inclined to agree with those who feel Arrau's tempo is too slow. For my taste the British pianist Stephen Hough gives the ideal recorded performance, whereas Arrau is rather studied and Germanic in approach (perhaps as a result of his early schooling in Berlin) Hough allows the music to flow spontaneously with beautifully controlled tonal shadings.
Ouça Jorge Bolet.
El convento
The left hand is surely too "present" in the first section; shouldn't it be a cushion into which the right hand sinks? It sounds like a practice run-through to make sure the left hand is "secure". And the simple little melody in the middle sounds like ... well, I think even I could make it more expressive! Sorry, Arrau fans (I've never been one!). Thanks for posting.
Have you heard Hamelin? For me, he judges the tempo perfectly and brings a unifying quality to the work's structural freedom. I feel you are rather dismissive concerning Arrau's very different interpretation, the latter was a thoughtful and perceptive musician with a wonderful command of the instrument. The choice of tempi in any composition can be a debatable matter, and therefore a matter of personal taste.
When you hear, listen to something that touches your soul...why, God For bid U Tube, aka Google...am completely disgusted by your self serving, tone deaf interruption with mindless advertiser...which is a testament to..a cry for attention...
PAUSA