Claudio Arrau: Beethoven Piano Sonatas

Claudio Arrau at Beethovenfest: massive, powerful, unsurpassed
This two DVD set features pianist Claudio Arrau performing eight Beethoven sonatas at Bonn's prestigious Beethovenfest in 1970, the composer's bicentenary, and 1977. I'll keep my comments to a minimum here and say that these performances are among the most powerful I've heard from this great Beethoven pianist - and this includes the many times I heard him in recital from the early 1970's through the 1980's.

While the producers elected to open the set with the 1977 Beethovenfest recordings (op. 53 "Waldstein," op. 2 no. 3 and op. 111), perhaps because they're in color, I'll comment first on the second disc which is from the more significant 1970 Festival (recorded in black & white, but in no way inferior from a video or sonic perspective). Arrau was 67 at the time and in top form; and there is only one word that begins to convey the performances of the five sonatas he covers (op. 27 no 1, op. 109, op. 57, op. 27 no. 2, and op 81a): and that is "gigantic." From the opening...

Long Awaited Releases
One of the greatest honors for any pianist was to be invited to perform at the 1970 Beethovenfest in Bonn,Germany.It was a special year,celebrating the 200th anniversary of Beethoven's
birth ( In Bonn,of course ) .W.Kempff,F.Gulda and C.Arrau were among the
handful of great Beethoven performers invited to play his
piano sonatas.Finally,more than 40 years later,we can experiance some of the solemmnity and excitement of the event.It
captures Arrau at the peak of his interpretative gifts and his technique in awesome shape. The
black and white, made for TV video,is of much better quality than other Arrau videos, for EMI ( Schumann,Beethoven from 1964 and also 1970)or VAI ( Mozart,Beethoven for
the Canadian TV in 1964). This 2 DVD pack also offers Arrau in a 1977 Beethovenfest recital (color video) with 3 sonatas ( Op.53,Op.2,No.3,Op.111),wich unfortunately ommits the Op.35 Variations ( "Eroica").The quality of the video and sound are optimal.The novelty is...

Arrau's unsurpassed mastery.
In my opinion, these two are the best DVDs concerning Claudio Arrau you can find on the market. In both these Beethovenian recitals, Arrau (1903-1991) is in perfect physical conditions (look at how agilely he moves walking to and from the piano in comparison, for instance, with the 1988 movie concerning the Beethoven's 5th Piano Concerto with Colin Davis), has reached a full interpretative maturity, plays live in a top level international musical context (the Bonn Beethovenfest).

Both concerts (CD1: 1977, color-mono, op. 53, op. 2 no. 3 and op. 111 // CD2: 1970, black&white-mono, op. 27 no. 1, op. 109, op. 57, op. 27 no. 2 and op. 81a) definitively testify Arrau's unsurpassed mastery: it is self-evident that he exactly knows what to do and that he does it, perfectly. In other terms, he completely dominates the stuff from a technical, intellectual, cultural and spiritual point of view.
As Neville Cardus suggested, Arrau is able to drive us inside and through the secret...

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