Search - Beethoven, Schumann, Debussy :: Piano Sonata 23 F Minor Op 57 / Fantasia C Major

Revelatory performances of two of the greatest piano works

R Potter | Cambridge, Cambs. United Kingdom | 09/01/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Tending towards the over-intellectual and apollonian in the recording studio, Claudio Arrau was often at his best in live performances, as the recording of this recital (an Italian television broadcast from 1959) confirms. Arrau later turned in very fine studio versions of all the works in this performance, but none of them come anywhere near the really exceptional level of musicality and interpretative insight presented here. Arrau's account of the Appassionata achieves, it seems to me, exactly the right balance between spaciousness and dynamism, presenting the musical argument of the work in a way which is both compelling in its overall cohesiveness and electrifying in the moment-to-moment drama of its unfolding. The second movement is a model of rich tone and limpid phrasing, with a perfectly judged transition to the final movement, itself a technical and musical tour de force. Arrau's virtuosity was never self-serving, and never turned to aggressive, bombastic ends: in this case, this lends a integrity and truthfulness to Arrau's performance which is unique. With playing of this quality, Arrau puts even the most exalted of his pianistic colleagues to shame: placed next to this version, Richter sounds impossibly hectoring, Gilels actually appears superficial, and Perahia sounds like nothing more than a conscientious schoolboy. (Gould, by the way, does not need Arrau to show him up: his version on Sony must surely be one of the most ill-judged, ill-executed versions ever released.)
The Schumann Phantasie is another work which places enormous interpretative as well as technical demands on the performer; the opening of this work, like that of the Appassionata, is incredibly difficult to perform well, having somehow to summon forth the emotional atmosphere of the entire work in the space of a single musical gesture. Arrau's achievement in this respect and throughout the work is truly magisterial. Ates Orga in Gramophone recently judged it to be one of the very finest recordings ever made of Schumann's masterpiece, and this reviewer can only reiterate this view. As in the Appassionata, it is the combination of intellectual insight, transcendent pianistic technique and, just as importantly, a level of deep emotional engagement with the work that makes this performance so extraordinary.
Debussy's Pour le Piano also receives a fine treatment, but it is the first two performances which obviously made Arrau's recital such an outstanding, unrepeatable musical event. That two performances of this stature appeared one after the other in the same recital is really remarkable; that they are now available on a budget-priced disc is pretty remarkable too. Recitals by such legendary pianists as Cziffra and Weisennberg have appeared on this label before now, but nothing approaching this. In short: towering performances which should not on any account be missed.
The recording is in stereo, in less than ideal sound, but perfectly acceptable and free of irritating hiss."