Arrau plays Schumann Carnaval 1/4

[littlegiant1972]

VIVA CHILE !!!!

[woodchuckmool]

omg it's Arrau? wow. great!!

[The19thKey]

I'm on practising this and it's killing me...

[violadude0987]

If you are watching this in 2013 thumbs up this, and then we will all know that the world didn't end!!

[DonDragonJr]

esta melodia siempre me acuerda a arrau no se porque

[SammySingally]

If you're watching this in 2011, thumbs up

[TheDaveBloom]

@SammySingally Why would anyone thumbs up this?

[Patience1138]

Guilty confession: I never heard of Arrau until watching this video. However, I understand now why everyone here praises his playing. Thank you for posting!

[pokewindwaker]

Love the gentle straight fingers~ GREAT METHOD!

[jellyboo8]

This is the greatest piece of all time. I don't know what it is about it, but the first few chords are amazing and of course the rest of it is too, but this is the most unique piece I have ever heard. So inspiring!!!

[301250]

From the very first bars it is evident that we are in the presence of a master pianist who rarely performs anything that does not bear the stamp of genius. sd goh (malaysia)

[falstaf3]

Arrau uno de los grandes sin duda. Y en Schumann nadie lo supera

[Azerty76LH]

Perfect in a classic way but I definitely prefer Mitsuko Uchida's way.

Arrau controls it, Mitsuko just lets it go.

[cinquepaolo]

Il "Carnaval" sembra ormai quasi del tutto uscito dai programmi pianistici. Credo che la causa di ciò risieda nelle straordinarie interpretazioni, consegnate alla registrazione, di Arrau, Rubinstein, Benedetti Michelangeli, che sembrano aver detto tutto su questa partitura

[newFranzFerencLiszt]

Arrau <3

[dgaranin]

This video is a valuable document but the performance is not so good as in Arrau's 1939 recording posted byPhilippeLoTheEternal as a video response. Lightless and playfulness is lost here. Dmitry.

[arthurtwoshed]

Together with Uchida ,this is he best Carnaval !!

[belialah]

Pinochet

[Ray0X0]

Siempre me asombra la habilidad de manos y dedos que tienen los pianistas de la talla de Arrau... ciertamente es un maravilloso don ...

[Oscar94Music]

Arrau, el mejor tocando el Carnaval de Schumann.Maravillosa obra siempre estara entre mis preferidas : )

[richclayderman]

unvelievable but true

[1993eph]

Les recomiendo el libro "Cuatro aproximaciones al arte de Arrau" de Héctor Vasconcelos, quien estudió con el. Es simplemente genial como describe a arrau y sus interpretaciones.

[Qoind]

I disagree, this one is great but what about Vladimir Sofronitsky?

[Ray0X0]

@Qoind I heard Sofronitsky and yes his Carnaval is pretty good but Arrau's Carnaval is more consistent, mature and coloured, gracious if you want... that's my personal opinion only...

[garfreed]

One of my favorite Chileans!

[Ray0X0]

Arrau the best of the best ...

[pcma1970]

Amazing music

[nearenough3]

I hear numerous minor slips and sloppiness -- numerous relative to his reputation. This is annoying. It is not clean.

[Archeopteryx]

stfu

[nearenough3]

Do you not care to hear comments which are not in line with the official hagiography?

[nimrodmetal]

Increíble, toca Carnaval como si nada... y de forma perfecta.... simplement el mejor

[ninijaparidze]

wooooooow

[flammesombres]

yuck.

[rolandonavarro]

Grandisimo!

[giorgiotognini]

Un grande del pianoforte e un pezzo straordinario

[abbia88]

the last romantic...

Beautiful performance, but I prefer the Michelangeli interpretation!

[evifnoskcaj]

ARRAU FTW!!!!!

[funkyalto]

bravo

[maxreger91]

brilliant performance: exactly how I envisioned it should be performed, but my stupid piano teacher has the most idiotic ideas on how to play this masterpiece so I'm stuck playing it badly

[maestroadam]

that's funny

[Schamschi]

Then ditch your piano teacher.

[kreutzo1]

certainly,he was the last romantic.

[MLaruelle]

wasn't mahler?

[kreutzo1]

Not from my modest point of view.

[ClarinetistJuan]

Romantics are slightly undefinable. A square is a rectangle, but not all rectangles are squares. You catch me?

[kempff95]

awesome!!

[MarkARothPiano]

Beautiful interpretation! Full of expression. Other great interpretations have been done by Arthur Rubenstein and Anton Kuerti.

[wenzhecai]

its off. audio and vid

[kempff95]

the best recording of this carnaval .

i like how Arrau "takes" notes.

[beemochobrahms]

Chopin was right.  Carnaval is garbage.

[RonaldVaughan]

I remember this work. It's one of the few

classical selections I heard as a child.

But to me,the definitive version was done

on DECCA Records in 1954...at the Royal

Covent Garden in England. (Does anybody have that record?)

[marirossi]

the sound seems a little confused in "forte" passages

[noangelnorsonne]

beautiful carnaval interpretation =)

[dgaranin]

This is a very solid, although a way too serious performance.

[deandusk]

dunno about the thumbs down, but i can agree that arrau can sometimes be exaggerate in his seriousness .. :))

it works in his liszts (though not all the time) but in this particular schumann, i think i can agree he's a bit too serious.

[4ubi]

what amazingli perfect sound and video .. :X (sun) (sun) (sun) :)

[SWEETHEART0917]

すばらしい！

[eliotswann]

The best Carnaval. Arrau's Schumann is simply superb.

[classicalalways]

@eliotswann Sorry, not close. Michelangeli's 1950s performance is much more consistent. Simon Barere's is far more electric.

[deandusk]

thumbs up from me for the humour :))

[ilovescarlatti]

Amatissimo schumann !!!! supremo capolavoro... Magnifico Arrau (come molti altri, e Michelangeli sublime.... d'accordo ?

[lovesGenet]

Not happy with recorded sounfd here .Arrau always payed attention to the tone he created .But his conception surprised me .Wow .Goes up there w/Hess,Rachmaninoff,Moseiwitsc­h.Someonepost the Godowsky rec .Never heard it

[ibclappin]

no one matches Arrau's work playing beethoven, liszt and schumann.

[brassmonkeyjew]

@ibclappin

Lang Lang!

[ibclappin]

@brassmonkeyjew --==([ L O L ])==--

[brassmonkeyjew]

@ibclappin

Lang Lang the new piano king!

[ibclappin]

@brassmonkeyjew Lang Lang the piano clown, a wacky and crappy interpreter, and a pure dork who repels the young generation from classical music.

[brassmonkeyjew]

@ibclappin

Once again more typical slurs from a racist!

He ain't white for he's not right.. that mentality should have died off with our grandfathers generation. But backward minded people like you keep that flame alive!

Shameful!

[ibclappin]

@brassmonkeyjew i am not racist at all. lang lang is just a terrible pianist.

you have some serious issues to deal with: you're depressed, that's why it's so hard to get out of bed. your idealism is the main problem; your extremism causes you be disappointed at, not only the majority of people, but also yourself. you look for ways to fire with anger from the developed hate that's eating you alive and it's pathetic. what better place to unleash yourself than the internet?

seek therapy.

[brassmonkeyjew]

@ibclappin

Is our time up?

And how much do i owe you, good doctor, for this session?

[ibclappin]

@brassmonkeyjew i'm just glad i can help.

[brassmonkeyjew]

@ibclappin

Oh and you have! Thank you Dr Freud for your pro bono psychoanalysis!

[ibclappin]

@brassmonkeyjew alright then. maybe now that you're cured you're gonna quit listening to lang lang.

[OsoBryanMeBra]

@ibclappin men, lang lang isn't a bad pianist but its too younj and excentric im from chile and a lso a new young pianist and i love all arrau's interpretations. lang lang ,,, not a clown

[ibclappin]

@OsoBryanMeBra lang lang is a clown, absolutely no doubt about it whatsoever. if he wants to be an entertaining pianist he needs to be in touch with the society. being a complete weirdo and at the same time letting loose causes us to, aside from feeling sad, laugh AT him not WITH him, and call him a clown

[OsoBryanMeBra]

@ibclappin okay okay u win

[matttgic]

@ibclappin What about Argerich? Richter? Rubinstein? Horowitz?.....

[ibclappin]

@matttgic arrau played liszt differently than them, i like horowitz's and richter's liszt better than arrau's but for some liszt pieces arrau's playing is just amazing.

horowitz's schumann is great also; definitely comparable to arrau's, but arrau's beethoven is unmatched.

[arturon111]

@ibclappin Arrau is better than Horowotz and Richter in all the repertoire,... Arrau's virtousity is beyond either Horowitz's or Richter's and artistically and spiritually spelaing he is unmatched

[CDU916]

@arturon111 Totally agree with you! I cringe at the state of modern musicianship. It gets boring, everyone playing at top speed, piano screaming, "Listen to me! Listen to how I handle these chords!' when what is really needed is more restraint, more paying attention to the source.  With Carnaval,Arrau gives every note its due weight, lets each chord breathe. Few artists play this piece with the intended balance. If they were reading a novel out loud, every character would sound the same

[assindiastignani]

@CDU916 Very well put, and I couldn't agree with you more. I think the entire younger generation of pianists should all be put in single-confinement rooms for one week with nothing to eat but bread, water and vitamin supplements and nothing to do but listen to recordings of (for ex.): Claudio Arrau, Guiomar Novaes, Rudolf Serkin and Clifford Curzon. They'd all come out a bit thinner, and with a concept of music making, communication and absolute fidelity to the composer. Not to mention humility.

[twooffour]

@assindiastignani

"Communication and music making" don't necessarily go hand in hand with "absolute fidelity to the composer" - two completely different concepts that CAN overlap.

I own Arrau's recording of Liszt's Transcendentals, and while I highly enjoy, say, 9 and 11, the "wilder" ones like Mazeppa or Wilde Jagd or No.2 are way too restrained, too boring, and too wooden. CAN'T STAND his Chasse-Neige, I much rather listen to Berezovksy or Lugansky on that.

[assindiastignani]

@twooffour In point of fact, fidelity to the composer is conditio sine qua non. Far too often people confuse an emotional response to the music on the part of an overwrougt "interpreter" with musicality and musicianship. Wharever. If you prefer Berezoksky and Lugansky that is certainly your privelege. But to use words like "boring" and "wooden" when talking abt. Arrau...as Mme Lhevinne used to say, "Beware when you criticize the great."

[twooffour]

" fidelity to the composer is conditio sine qua non"

Condition without which not? What?

Yea, fidelity to the composer, emotional involvement and "musicality" are all completely different factors that can overlap in different ways - I have no idea what you're trying to tell me.

As for Arrau, hey, you know, he NAILS those "slow romantic ones", in terms of 9 and 11, but if I find myself utterly bored while listening to his Mazeppa and feel there's no excitement to it, or find the way he plays...

[assindiastignani]

@twooffour Conditio-sine-qua-non. Google it, if you want to know. I've wasted enough time on you already. I give up: everything you say is right, everything I say is wrong. Happy? Bye bye.

[twooffour]

@assindiastignani

Well, according to Wikipedia, I already guessed the meaning right the first time:

"... refers to an indispensable and essential action, condition, or ingredient."

What I said still applies - "fidelity to the composer" and "musicianship" or "musicality" are nowhere the same thing, although they can overlap. And, you know, for a guy who stands a top of a thunderous mountain berating people for "criticzing the great", you sure get easily butthurt when faced with disagreement ;)

[twooffour]

@assindiastignani

I think you've just proven that you've got nothing of worth to contribute - so yea, bye ;)

[twooffour]

@assindiastignani

... the melody and tremolos in Chasse-Neige "wooden", then I don't see why I shouldn't say that.

And by hesitating to "criticize the great", one deprives them of their chance to prove themselves great in the first place. You might want to think about that one :)

[rafjuven]

@twooffour is to understand both the musicality and communication as fidelity to the composer, both concepts are intertwined with each other to give way to a much deeper interpretation of the works, well, actually not even there the interpretation, it speaks of the union of interpreter with the composer.

[twooffour]

@rafjuven

Sure "intertwined", they're still different and separable criteria.

[rafjuven]

@twooffour then we would have to understand what is communication and the musicality and see that the separation is done with fidelity to the composer, all works express a passage or a moment of the composer's life that expressing personal attempt, the score indicates high information but also we need the intuition of the artist, a deeply humanistic education, and a deep knowledge of the composer, the period in which they lived and medium development.

[twooffour]

@rafjuven

I have no idea what you're talkig´ng about.

Fidelity do the composer, or score, can be done or attempted, but with sloppy musical execution (i.e. following all the articulations, dynamics, but kinda meh).

Musicality without fidelity is possible if you ignore / alter aspects of the original score (or authentic performance practice, or the composer's supposed/expressed intentions or biography context) to whatever degree, yet still put thought and intution into your rendition, ...

[twooffour]

@rafjuven

... giving attention to the MUSIC - hence, "musical".

I just had an argument with someone who thought fidelity and musicality were somehow inseparable ideals. They're not.

[rafjuven]

@twooffour I do not think we understand each other well, somehow I think that certain things need to live in order to follow. It was a nice chat:)

[classicalalways]

@ibclappin They may not match, but they certainly surpass Arrau in Beethoven (Solomon), Liszt (Berman), and Schumann (Horowitz, Richter or Cortot).

[ibclappin]

@classicalalways berman's liszt is good but you're comparing him to arrau? and cortot's schumann? well unless you don't like schumann's music itself but happen to like changed, twisted versions of it. horowitz's schumann is great but it's more on the superficial, crowd-pleasing end. richter doesn't come anywhere near arrau, and also: no, solomon's beethoven is definitely not better than arrau's

[lextune]

Arrau's (and Richter's!) Schumann has always had a special place in my mind.

[smithsherman]

This kind of performance represents a "halfway point"...between the pianists of Schumann's era,who recorded this later & the totally mechanistic modern revisions that have held sway for the past 60 years. I can't get excited about it...but...It beats the hell out of Richter,Ashkenazy,Argerich,& like pianists.

[mason104]

I think this is one composer he especially excells at.

[greenlight24]

wow amazing.... °o°

[stringinst]

DYNAMIC..BRILLIANT!

[billyguns2]

Arrau was one of the great pianists. Such beautiful, deep tone and extraordinary technique!

[cookforsoul]

he has the best quarity of the sound among other great pianists. And the spacing is amazing

[dianawills]

I love his shoes also

[chilean100]

Chile is a country of many great artists. This is an outstanding video of the Schumann Carnaval. There is another great performance of this piece by the Chilean Patricio Molina, you guys should hear it!

[chilean100]

watch Patricio Molina 's videos

[goobleglob]

omg i love his shoes!

[derhawk]

outstanding

[andresbello1234]

Beautiful palying. No posturing and no theatrics.

[englishphil37]

magnificent. i'm glad i saw this, until now i've only seen him playing the Appassionata as an old guy and frankly it was weak (on an international level). now i see proof that in his prime he really was one of the best

[vlndv]

Picture is badly out of sync with sound, especially at 5:34.

[stridskuk87]

sick

[fdartmouth]

Outrageous - I saw Arrau play 2 x in the 70's - he played Symphonic Etudes and Liszt Sonata

[goobleglob]

amazing!