He was one of the most important virtuosos in the world, and his ingenuity is still undisputed – well over twenty years after his death – as are the standards he set with many of his recordings. Claudio Arrau, who was treated like a god, when it came to his Beethoven interpretations, was able to trace his musical line back to Beethoven. Martin Krause, his teacher at Stern’s Conservatory in Berlin, was a master student of Liszt; his teacher Carl Czerny was so highly favored by Beethoven that he entrusted his brilliant piano student with playing the solo part at the first Vienna performance of his piano concerto No. 5. “I can breathe freely with full lungs in the Beethovenian world, which I have made my own“, Arrau is quoted as saying. “It has to be an organic ability of adaptation between Beethoven and me.” For many years the renowned critic Joachim Kaiser tried to investigate the Arrau phenomenon and has intensively dealt with its Beethoven interpretations. He highly admired his sense of style, temperament and touch and came to the conclusion: “Arrau is the noblest, the most careful, the most serious pianist of our time.” The “King of the Pianists” had a brilliant technique, captivated by a tremendous musical presence and seriousness – and he was an advocate of absolute fidelity to the work and the view that an interpreter would only do right by a composer if he mastered his entire work. This compilation of 10 original albums, including high-quality and rare recordings from the years 1947 to 1960, show Arrau to be an interpreter whose playing is as flawless as it is serious: they offer the 5 piano concertos, the sonatas and cycles of variations that were published during this period. The highly acclaimed live recordings of the piano concerts (No. 3-5) under Otto Klemperer from 1957 are included as bonus tracks.
– “King of the Pianists”, treated like a god when it came to his Beethoven interpretations
– Arrau was able to trace a direct musical line to Beethoven
– 10 original albums from the years 1947 to 1960, including a number of rarities
– the complete piano concertos as well as the sonatas and variation cycles from this period
– + Bonus tracks: piano concerts no. 3-5 live under Klemperer
CD 1
■ Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major Op.
15 / Sonata No. 24 in F Sharp Op. 78 (1959)
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827)
Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major Op. 15 / C-Dur
1. Allegro con brio 16‘24
2. II. Largo 10‘56
3. III. Rondo: Allegro scherzando 9‘25
Sonata No. 24 in F Sharp Major Op. 78 / Fis-Dur
4. I. Adagio cantabile. Allegro ma non troppo 7‘29
5. II. Allegro vivace 2‘57
Claudio Arrau piano / Klavier
Philharmonia Orchestra
conductor / Dirigent Alceo Galliera (1-3)
recorded / aufgenommen 1958
■ Bonus
Sonata No. 26 in E Flat Major Op. 81a “Les Adieux”
6. I. Adagio. Allegro (Les Adieux) 6‘59
7. II. Andante espressivo (L’Absence) 3‘50
8. III. Vivacissimamente (Le Retour) 6‘05
Claudio Arrau piano / Klavier
recorded / aufgenommen 1958
Total Time 64‘13
CD 2
■ Piano Concerto No. 2 in B Flat Major Op. 19 /
Piano Sonata No. 7 in D Major Op. 10 No. 3 (1960)
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827)
Piano Concerto No. 2 in B Flat Major Op. 19 / B-Dur
1. I. Allegro con brio 14‘04
2. II. Adagio 9‘02
3. III. Rondo: Molto allegro 6‘35
Sonata No. 7 in D Major Op. 10 No. 3 / D-Dur
4. I. Presto 6‘45
5. II. Largo e mesto 10‘18
6. III. Menuetto: Allegro 2‘56
7. IV. Rondo: Allegro 3‘58
Claudio Arrau piano / Klavier
Philharmonia Orchestra
conductor / Dirigent Alceo Galliera (1-3)
recorded / aufgenommen 1958/59
Total Time 53‘44
CD 3
■ Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor Op. 37 (1950)
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827)
Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor Op. 37 / c-Moll
1. I. Allegro con brio 15‘51
2. II. Largo 10‘39
3. III. Rondo: Allegro. Presto 8‘35
Claudio Arrau piano / Klavier
Philharmonia Orchestra
conductor / Dirigent Eugene Ormandy
recorded / aufgenommen 1947
■ Bonus
Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor Op. 37 / c-Moll
4. I. Allegro con brio 17‘04
5. II. Largo 11‘21
6. III. Rondo: Allegro 9‘15
Claudio Arrau piano / Klavier
Philharmonia Orchestra
conductor / Dirigent Otto Klemperer
recorded / aufgenommen (live) 1957
Total Time 72‘50
CD 4
■ Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major Op. 58 (1956)
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827)
Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major Op. 58 / G-Dur
1. I. Allegro moderato 19‘13
2. II. Andante con moto 5‘39
3. III. Rondo: Vivace. Presto 10‘09
Claudio Arrau piano / Klavier
Philharmonia Orchestra
conductor / Dirigent Alceo Galliera
recorded / aufgenommen 1955
■ Bonus
Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major Op. 58 / G-Dur
4. I. Allegro moderato 19‘35
5. II. Andante con moto 5‘27
6. III. Rondo: Vivace. Presto 10‘14
Claudio Arrau piano / Klavier
Philharmonia Orchestra
conductor / Dirigent Otto Klemperer
recorded / aufgenommen (live) 1957
Total Time 70‘21
CD 5
■ Sonata in C Sharp Minor “Moonlight” (1950)
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827)
Sonata No. 14 in C Sharp Minor Op. 27, No. 2 “Moonlight” / cis-Moll „Mondscheinsonate“
1. I. Adagio sostenuto 6‘38
2. II. Allegretto 2‘19
3. III. Presto agitato 7‘19
Claudio Arrau piano / Klavier
recorded / aufgenommen 1950
■ Bonus
Piano Concerto No. 5 in E Flat Major Op. 73 “Emperor” / Es-Dur
4. I. Allegro 20‘58
5. II. Adagio un poco mosso 8‘10
6. III. Rondo: Allegro 10‘30
Claudio Arrau piano / Klavier
Philharmonia Orchestra
conductor / Dirigent Otto Klemperer
recorded / aufgenommen 1957
Total Time 56‘01
CD 6
■ Sonatas No. 22 in F Major Op. 54 & No. 23 in F Minor Op. 57 “Appassionata” / 32 Variations in C Minor (1961)
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827)
Sonata No. 23 in F Minor Op. 57 “Appassionata” / f-Moll
1. I. Allegro assai 10‘25
2. II. Andante con moto 7‘02
3. III. Allegro ma non troppo. Presto 8‘18
Sonata No. 22 in F Major Op. 54 / F-Dur
4. I. In tempo d’un menuetto 5‘58
5. II. Allegretto 6‘17
6. 32 Variations in C Minor WoO 80 / c-Moll 12‘21
Claudio Arrau piano / Klavier
recorded / aufgenommen 1960
Total Time 50‘30
CD 7
■ Sonatas No. 21 C Major Op. 53 “Waldstein” & No. 2 in A Major Op. 101 (1958)
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827)
Sonata No. 21 in C Major Op. 53 “Waldstein” / C-Dur
1. I. Allegro con brio 12‘10
2. II. Introduzione: Adagio molto 4‘18
3. III. Rondo: Allegro moderato. Prestissimo 10‘41
Sonata No. 28 in A Major Op. 101 / A-Dur
4. I. Allegretto ma non troppo 4‘20
5. II. Vivace alla marcia 5‘06
6. III. Adagio ma non troppo, con affetto 3‘07
7. IV. Allegro 7‘42
Claudio Arrau piano / Klavier
recorded / aufgenommen 1956/1957
Total Time 47‘30
CD 8
■ Sonatas No. 31 in A Flat Major Op. 110 & No. 32 in C Minor Op. 111 (1958)
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827)
Sonata No. 31 in A Flat Major Op. 110 / As-Dur
1. I. Moderato cantabile molto espressivo 7‘18
2. II. Allegro molto 2‘15
3. III. Adagio, ma non troppo 3‘54
4. Fuga: Allegro, ma non troppo 7‘17
Sonata No. 32 in C Minor Op. 111 / c-Moll
5. I. Maestoso. Allegro con brio ed appassionato 9‘01
6. II. Arietta: Adagio molto semplice e cantabile 19‘54
Claudio Arrau piano / Klavier
recorded / aufgenommen 1957
Total Time 49‘44
CD 9
■ Thirty-Three Variations on a Waltz by DIABELLI Op. 120 / Fifteen Variations and Fugue in E Flat Major (“Eroica”) Op. 35 (1953)
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827)
Thirty- Three Variations on a Waltz by
DIABELLI Op. 120 / Diabelli-Variationen
1. Theme & Variations 1-13 16‘49
2. Variations 14-27 21‘38
3. Variations 28-33 16‘30
Claudio Arrau piano / Klavier
recorded / aufgenommen 1952
Total Time 54‘59
CD 10
■ Thirty-Three variations on a waltz by
DIABELLI Op. 120 / Fifteen variations and fugue in E Flat
Major (“Eroica”) Op. 35 (Continued / Fortsetzung)
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827)
1. Fifteen Variations and Fugue in E Flat Major “Eroica” Op. 35 / 26‘42 Eroica-Variationen Es-Dur
Claudio Arrau piano / Klavier recorded / aufgenommen 1952
■ Sonate No. 18 en mi bémol majeur
Op. 31 No. 3 (c. 1947) Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827)
Sonata No. 18 in E Flat Major Op. 31, No. 3 / Es-Dur
2. I. Allegro 8‘20
3. II. Scherzo: Allegretto vivace 5‘14
4. III. Menuetto: Moderato e grazioso 4‘49
5. IV. Presto con fuoco 4‘38
Claudio Arrau piano / Klavier
recorded / aufgenommen 1947
Total Time 49‘50
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