Arrau plays Beethoven Sonata 32 1st mov.

[308813062]

from #1 to #32, Beethoven's sonatas have come a very long way

[carloncho2321]

simplemente espectacular!!

[colpeir]

This is the soundtrack to a revolution

[VivaRenata]

Il pianista del novecento che sul fondamentale capisce Beethoven e Liszt - per me Arrau rimane l'unico interprete di queste componisti.

[cieldelioncourt]

El virtuoso, interpretando a un virtuoso... Bravo!

[OsoBryanMeBra]

a todos los inutiles ke se atrevan a cuestionar la gracia de Arrau que es el mejor interprete de Beethoven en el mundo lo fue y no sera reemplazado,,, comansela con mayo!!

[Ray0X0]

@OsoBryanMeBra Ja ja... bastante radical diría yo.

[blahblahblahman]

One of the greatest minds of our time.

[rochefort82]

la musique avant la littérature

[MrALCOTTS]

Non mi piace, lenta e prolissa, ascoltate GLENN GOULD O MICHELANGELI DECCA

[chilenoHDU]

@MrALCOTTS I think Glenn Gould plays only Glenn Gould; and Michelangeli's accuracy is almost as perfect as his coldness, none of both represents Beethoven really. This is the last Beethoven's sonata and is about his spirituality; just Arrau shows Beethoven's feelings, his touching is profound, sensible and spiritual.

[arturon111]

@MrALCOTTS gould and michelangeli sound like students compared to arrau. arrau was superior both technically and musically to either gould and/or michelangeli. needless to say spirtully speaking.

[ideamachineim]

@DrownedAtLakeBodom Speak 4 yourself!

[ideamachineim]

I didn't see or hear any mistakes! His interpretation isn't my favorite, but Mr. Arrau's Beethoven has always been solid. 111 is such a thing of beauty, it must remain in the ear of the beholder!!

[highlanderdurp]

why is it in black and white if it was filmed in 1970??

[allanhalas2]

i'm the visit number 119000 WOW :D

[Ray0X0]

@DrownedAtLakeBodom Why, is it that everyone is to please you? if YOU don't understand then learn spanish!!

[darkblueangel1956]

Un grande artista ma anche un gentiluomo di gran classe, che esprime il proprio sentimento profondo per Beethoven, per la visione filosofica e trascendentale di questo monumentale capolavoro, la Sonata op. 111. Claudio Arrau esprime col sobrio fraseggio e con echi smorzati del pedale, il senso compiuto di questa composizione, seguendo solo la traccia ispirativa, senza andare oltre il contenuto che sta DENTRO la Sonata. Un miracolo concesso a pochi eletti !!!!!

[ideamachineim]

@darkblueangel1956 I do not speak spanish, amigo, but I picked up on several words that ring true, my friend!! God bless you, sir!

[darkblueangel1956]

@ideamachineim

I've just sent an e-mail with translation from Google. See you soon, dear friend. Alfonso

[wnaenni]

Phenomenal!! Thank you!

[cesarr20]

La musica pasa atravez de el, en el podemos apreciar los verdaderos sentimientos del compositor en sus penas y alegrias que van pasando en el transcurso de la melodia, claudio arrau trasmite mucho con su interpretacion, es el mejor, estoy orgulloso de ser de chillan, grande ARRAU

[satyu131089]

no one produces a better tone on the piano than Arrau!!

[vova47]

Nobody approaches Richter in this sonata, though Arrau plays it very well indeed.

[Ray0X0]

@vova47 I don't think so, Arrau's version is much more profound and intimate in my opinion. Richter as always is energetic, with an overwhelming dynamic, but so much lighter than Arrau. Richter never showed the profounder and spiritual meaning of Beethoven as Arrau did it.

[Ray0X0]

Amazing the hand moving..

[ximena1953]

my favorite pianist and Valentina.

[radiootoo]

Ragtime! O those ominous notes! so full of portent! and then, so innocent! Who needed movies when they had the glorious Ludwig Van!

[turpinaime]

I discover Arrau late and finally he's one of the best for this sonata. I must listen to much more from him.

[paulprocopolis]

I've heard faster, more superficially exciting performances of this movement, but few if any that draw so much out of every note and give the music such depth and expressive power.

[Oxenoverborragia]

Sorry for saying this, but reading some oppinios, I must say; saidly Richter and Brendel weren't humble enough to have classes by CLAUDIO ARRAU to to get such a maturity...

[leonengard]

When I compare some pianist of our time and this kind of pianist is a shame. A lot of public today get crazy with young pianist with just tecnique and lovely hair or dress. This musicians of the past were reflexive, mature and worked with intelectual conception, not only with fast and wonderful fingers, trying to be eternal young. Today I like Hamelin and a very few others. With the actual pianist, or I know what they will do as machines, or they just surprise me how fast or loud they play.

[MLaruelle]

for me, arrau is the best performer of beethoven sonatas

[sakiemi]

togo!

[Desmonddd2002]

This comparing to the 2nd mvt. Is just to reflect the aggression of Beethoven's Life. Much deeper then that is his praise to god, which is the second movement. much more harder in my opinion LOL

[roozbehab]

Definitely much harder! About Arrieta once Andreas Schiff said, the most spritual work of one of the most sptritual composers of all time. I could not be agree more. For Interpretation something far byond academic technique is required.

[roozbehab]

So far this is also my favorite version.

[Desmonddd2002]

The interpretation is tooo mature LOL

I must say this is much more better then Ritcher's and Brandel's but I much preferred theres.

[haruwan21]

The Reason Why!

[564steph]

the best version I have ever heard

[564steph]

Probably my favourite version.

[russtunes]

Such a gifted pianist. wonderful.

[desekilivrio]

grande Claudio Arrau! un pianista Chileno, sencillo, humilde e increible intérprete... estudioso, disciplinado y siempre al servicio DE LA MUSICA

[adrypiano]

Who cares such a ridiculous name ??? Publishers have nothing to do with music...

[gooddna2]

if the publisher knew he's going to die soon, he might have put the name "omega" to this one, but for me I like the way it is.

[belemuski]

best 111 ever

[yuanyelele]

at 6:13 he made a mistake and looked really, really sad. it's like "sorry, Beethoven"

i like Arrau

amazing!

[VivaRenata]

@yuanyelele Could you MIDGETS stop going on about these mistakes. I just found a great discourse on Youtube from a German music critic which was about all these "mistakes". We are talking about live music, and I do believe Beethoven's mistakes are the source of his grandeur. So tired of musical munchkins. Was just waiting for him to mention Furtwängler and Rubinstein and he finally got to them. The great musicians are the ones who make mistakes!

[dinodemic]

@yuanyelele It think it was more of an emotional expression of how powerful this work is, hes to great of a pianist to loose he's cool because of a mistake.. But that's just my opinion =)

[fernandofariajunior]

@yuanyelele More like "ouch, Beethoven"... hadn't noticed, really funny!

[Classikev]

@yuanyelele...Arrau made no mistake at 6:13...look at the sheet music and listen. He was just getting "into" it with a vigorous look when the chord pounded out so forcefully at that point in the song. Nothing to do with a mistake. I'm sure that Arrau may have made mistakes at times...uhh MAYBE!..hehe...but that (6:13) surely wasn't one of them. He was just into it man.....can you dig it?

[pattylosborn1953]

@Classikev It really is actually a mistake. You were probably listening to the wrong octave, but when he played the C octave in the left hand, he accidentally hit a D with his thumb as well. Other than that, I don't think there are any mechanical errors in this recording!

[Classikev]

@pattylosborn1953 ...Very debatable....But, even if you are correct, you're surely splitting hairs here as that would be ONE technical flub in 9:00 minutes of playing in front of live TV cameras.

Not worth even talking about I think.

[VivaRenata]

@yuanyelele And who gives an "expletive deleted"! Fortunate enough to have heard and met him in real life and several other pianists who also dropped the occasional note - but made music come alive - such as Rubinstein.

[yuanyelele]

2:39

i don't think he should slow down.

[jiolsmolimassunemo]

also, for everyone who seems to be critical of Arrau, before you go on condemning the fellow, take the time and track down some of the recordings he made in the 1920s and 1930s. They are absolutely stellar.

[whomakemefeel]

It equally, which brought misery to Beethoven pain shattered he Beethoven wiped out up to struggle with deafness even loss of reputation here in the early Beethoven shows us how much the fate hiding behind Beethoven and suddenly expired on Beethoven is here in the middle of the conflict and Beethoven pressing questions to the god!! what Beethoven do to see all this hurt's? it's a wonderful piece that will be even more remarkable if it was playing by Beethoven him self

[mathpianist93]

atmosphere, atmosphere in the Maestoso opening...

Schnabel himself said that rests are extremely important.

I disagree with the texture of some of his notes.

[juancillo]

deep master..........

[adolphus25]

Arrau's not that good, at least not at this sonata...

his second movement of this sonata is far worse to me than almost every other recording of it that I can find on Youtube. This first movement is so blah and boring, and he rushed the entire beginning part of the piece.

Dear lord, you people are acting like Dane Cook fans...

[thinkpad20]

I prefer Pletnev's interpretation (Live at Carnegie Hall = AMAZING). He rushes the slow parts and sounds awkward on the fast parts. There are some good moments in this interp though.

[amirmot]

in the documentary THE ART OF PIANO the seccond movement was used to illustrate arrau's style and uniqness ,

so if it was bad how come they used it?

also i cant a better performance of the seccond movement at u tube or anywhere els ,never heard any better one than this.

UR talking about arrau !! someon whos his rich tone of piano playing has never been heard before!

[marianas0]

arrau rules..

XD

[thethikboy]

It's as difficult to get an exact performance of late Beethoven as it is to get one of Mozart. Not on this side of the 19th century.

[Spexter1337]

/watch?v=R9GYArGlM7g

Just uploaded the second movement of this performance. Finally!

[abczb2002]

个人感觉这个版本的Arrau比Richter处理的更有味道

[jannokas85]

The theme of this sonata is rather bland i think, but Beethoven shows great developmental ability and the way it all sounds unified and complete in combination with the contrasting material...it sounds as though it's alive! I wish he'd composed the theme a bit more colourful...

[redrothko]

god who the hell cares, this is 111

[thethikboy]

This is late Beethoven. Introspective almost serialistic. It's the development of the theme, rather than the theme that makes it so powerful. Way ahead of its time.

[esoterica1940]

"serialistic"???? or >>surrealistic?

[thethikboy]

Serialistic. Where the structure is in a straight line instead of cyclic...like a recapitulation in a sonata...and Da Capo

[phillymousekowitz]

my absolute favourite piano sonata. best played by arturo benedetti michelangeli. never heard it better. get it. it's heavenly

[romotchka]

I quite agree. Did you heard though about Yvonne Lefébure?

[dwgower]

Marvellous. Upload the second movement, PLEASE!

[reservoirdog999]

this guy is the real deal.

[vlndv]

The characteritures by Gould and Richter are interesting in their own way, but to compare either with this sensitive performance by Arrau is silly. My favorites are the recordings by Brendel.

[eduardoharpista]

Well this is interesting, but I find beyond questioning that the most spectacular of this sonata belongs to Glenn Gould! He has daring, passion, and the necessary comprehension of Bach to play it!

[esoterica1940]

Arrau is the best Beethoven pianist..bar none. Listen to them ALL and compare wisely..with emotion in your ears..and intelligence as well..if you KNOW the compositions and a little or more about Beethoven himself. Arrau was a direct descendant of Beethoven's teachings...as Listz's student was Arrau's teacher.

[eduardoharpista]

Arrau is wonderfull I agree. I am sorry, what I should have said is that I simply prefer Glenn Gould... not because it's better, but because I really love to hear him play!

[libetta]

dude, both are equally great. gould was as good in bach as arrau was in liszt. you cannot say which one you prefer, both have specific composers have different specialties regarding composer. but one thing i can't stand about glenn is that his repertoire is limited to bach and some mozart pieces, mostly of which are classical and baroque

[eduardoharpista]

Sorry, but the only thing I am sure I can safely say is that I prefer Glenn Gould. And yes, I agree, it's a pity that Gould's repertoire is so focused on one or two composers... still, he played only what gave him joy, I can relate to that :)

[genovesachx]

have to disagree. true that he played mostly baroque and classical, but he played a lot more than just bach and mozart (whom he actually detested): scriabin, chopin, mendelssohn, strauss, brahms, grieg, etc. Gould on beethoven, though, not very great...

[libetta]

do you have records of gould playing beethoven and other artists?

[genovesachx]

not of beethoven, but I've heard his recording of the sonatas. as far as other composers, i'd say half my gould collection is from bach and the other half from other composers. there's one recording released by the glenn gould edition that has scriabin, prokofiev, chopin and mendelssohn. but one of my favorite gould recordings is a compilation called "glenn gould and serenity"...has strauss, sibelius, brahms, js and cpe bach, etc.

[libetta]

i didn't know he played romantic pieces too. or even recorded them as well. where were you able to get those records??

[jiolsmolimassunemo]

Gould generally detested romantic pieces, so don't get your hopes up too much if you're looking for stellar interpretations. He has actually recorded a Chopin piano sonata before, but damn is it ever strange. He did it to prove his opinion that Chopin couldn't compose.

[libetta]

i wish to hear that, do you have a copy of that? he was to "bachist", much so that he despise other composers

[libetta]

i wish to hear that, do you have a copy of that? he was to "bachist", much so that he despise other composers

[jiolsmolimassunemo]

there are actually recordings posted of it on youtube, i believe, although i am not sure if they are complete.

[libetta]

"claudio arrau taught himself as a descendent of beethoven-beethoven taught czerny, czerny taught liszt, and liszt who taught martin krause, his (arrau)only teacher". this was from the 'golden age of the piano' film.

[libetta]

it's worth mentioning that Rudolf Serkin is the greatest Beethoven interpreter ever. Brendel is good too but he is more of a Scubertian type of pianist.

[esoterica1940]

I heartly disagree. Listen carefully to the music of Arrau..listen to the emotion and melodies EVOLVING the entire themes and then Beethoven's music becomes clear for soul. IMO Arrau is the greatest interpreter of Beethoven bar none.

[AngelinaTaylor]

Barenboim. And Richter is probably my favourite for this sonata. Listen to it.

[superbemaison]

I fully agree with you!!

Richter's Leipzig version of op111(Beethoven) is a milestone of the work to me!!!!!

.He recorded that work on other occasions but not as spectacular.

[Takatcho]

Richter's pp is better than Arrau

[superandyboy]

Particularly for this sonata, full of misterious of what was deeply in the mind of Beethoven, to me, there must be played with more power that let us show the intensity of Bethoveen's way of living, thinking and dying as well. Only Richter could achieve for this incredible sonata the sound and intensitiy allowing us see a little of the mind of Beethoven I am talking about. Rither surpasses Arrau in this sonata definitly.

[vinciano]

op. 109 and op. 11 played by arrau are the supreme achievements in this field.

[dracovolantus]

best 111 on youtube, downloaded it a long time ago

[fdartmouth]

You just can't beat this - I didn't know that these videos existed - can you please tell the origin? They must have been produced for film.

[argybarg]

Interesting to compare this with the rather brutal hammering Richter gives this movement. I prefer Arrau's attention to variation and dialogue -- it keeps it from being monolithic -- but sometimes he loses the momentum.

[121jazzy]

Fantastic! Do you have the second movement of this?

[googooeugene]

I do and will upload it when I get a chance--it takes forever!!

[christophe7bordenave]

@121jazzy

I've just uploaded the second movement with good audio quality ! (see below my video comment)

[121jazzy]

@christophe7bordenave Wonderful, thank you very much!

[afertyus1000]

lighten up

[afertyus1000]

trills aint that good

[godelike]

what a silly comment, facing such a depth of interpretation

[nunslittletoy]

must agree wirh godelike, he was a genius! afertyus is either the next beethoven or a complete nob! I agree with the latter... for god's sake!

[elchilodelamovie]

I'm a big fan of Beethoven's piano sonatas, specially the movement of this one, Arrau makes me have multiple musical orgasms with this interpretation.. R.I.P.