Customer Reviews

Comp Ctos/Sons

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I am totally swept by the passion and spirit that Arrau had put into interpreting this music, which seemed to flow naturally out the instrument instead of being "played".

Of the Beethoven sonata recordings that I've listened to (Schnabel, Kempff, Moravec, Horowitz and Arrau), Arrau's playing was neither the slowest nor the fastest, but it revealed THE MOST MUSIC and the most intimate CONNECTION with the music. I especially like the polyphonic texture, the tonal colours and gradation, the inner tension, as well as the clear and individualistic insights into the overall architecture and spiritual contents of the music.

If I were to have but one set of these sonatas, this would be my choice -- for the musicianship, the passion, the spirit, as well as the high quality remastering.

In comparison, Schnabel's set suffers from poor recording quality (so details will be missing if that's what you're looking for), and his choice of tempo feels too rush to me most of the time.

Kempff, on the other hand, tended to be too slow at times (especially on the early ones). Also, if you prefer a Romanticism approach, then you might find his interpretation too mild. I also feel he didn't bring out enough inner tension and the subsequent resolution which is so essential to Beethoven's music (as a reflection of the personal struggles he faced in his personal life, perhaps?)

This set should be considered indispensable by all lovers of the piano and/or Beethoven. I won't bother anyone with a review of any particular performance. It is enough to list a few of the many virtues of this set.

VALUE
It may seem like a lot of money but consider that you get over 1,000 minutes spread over 14 CD's.

INTERPRETATION
In my view, Arrau was the greatest interpreter of Beethoven of his generation. I will never forget seeing him perform the Emperor. Some may object to the languid tempi but to my ear, they are just right. The arietta of op.111 is sublime.

RECORDING
There is some faint background noise and hissing, but pay no attention. For the age of the recordings, the Philips' engineers have done an outstanding job.

My only complaint (and it is very small) is that the liner notes do not do the set the treatment it deserves. Barely 5 pages with few insights seems odd, to be charitable about it.

Nevertheless, a treasure to enjoy over and over again. Unreservedly recommended.

"Great Music!" can sound equally stunning and magnificent in the hands of many diverse interpreters. Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas certainly make a good case to be classified as "Great Music!", and the variety of recordings of the entire 32 is more than ample evidence for such a classification.

This set features recordings made in the 1960s by the Chilean pianist Claudio Arrau, and supplements the sonatas with the complete concertos and some variations. Arrau is very thought provoking and exploratory in his readings. This is not Beethoven for the light hearted. The readings feature a wide dynamic range and emotional expressiveness. You are ever aware that it is not just Beethoven's thoughts that are being expressed in the playing; Arrau's own feelings are as ever present as the composer's. I agree with one reviewer who finds Arrau a little lacking in the scherzos. But, I can easily dismiss the shortage of "playfulness" in some moments when I get interpretations that fathom some of the great depths this music has to it.
No one cycle of the 32, in my opinion, can lay claim to be superior over all others, even in any one of the sonatas. I would not want to be without this set. But then, I also would not want to be without Kempff, Brendel, Schnabel, or Gilels either. All have equal strong merit.

So if you could only choose one, why might you choose this set? If you are a great fan of Schumann, Brahms, and perhaps Schubert, then you will likely find these performaces more fitting. They look forward to the future that Beethoven certainly paved the way for, a future that was more expressive and expansive. If you are a fan more of Mozart and Haydn, you may find the readings a bit heavy and introspective.

Also, consider this set if you want one stop for the sonatas, concertos, and variations.

The concertos, another genre of Beethoven's works deserving of the "Great Music!" designation, are given similarly unforgettable Arrau performances with Haitink and the Concertgebouw Orchestra.

I find myself listening to the Eroica variations in this box more than anything else. The audio recording is not of the demonstration-quality that the Gilels has, but Arrau plays with more herioc feeling and captures the sense of occasion in the work in a way Gilels seems to miss entirely.

Philips has pulled off one of their best remastering jobs with this compliation. The boxed set was released shortly before Philips started their award-winning "Philips 50" series of reissues. The care taken with these Arrau remasterings makes me suspect they were a sort of "tune up" for the bigger and more publicized project that was to follow.

The documentation is decent but not exhaustive. One minor quibble is with the box. It is just a wee bit too small for the disks and booklet to fit comfortably.

The price is very low on a per disk basis.

I have been living with the Arrau/Beethoven sonatas for over 30 years beginning with lp's pressed in the U.S., then imported from Holland, then the initial cd's & now this remastered cd box set. The latest technology brings additional life and timbre to Arrau's miraculous sound so I highly recommend this latest incarnation of what are indisputably great Beethoven recordings.

As other reviewers have observed, not all of Arrau's treatments are equally inspired; but the overall level of playing & interpretation is so remarkable that there isn't much to quibble with. The primary complaint that one reads about Arrau is that he frequently played too slowly. (Conversely it can be said that Schnabel, the yardstick by which all Beethoven pianists have been measured for 75 years, often played too fast. His slow movements were divine, his fast movements could obliterate the music.) While Arrau did sometimes sound too deliberate in certain pieces of music which his temperament seemed ill-suited for (the Chopin waltzes come to mind), the fact remains that he was an enormously insightful and imaginative artist who often played with tremendous passion. Many of his interpretations include plenty of fireworks where appropriate, however others were so sublime that only experts were aware of how his gigantic technique was seemingly effortlessly employed in extremely difficult passages. (Contrary to one reviewer's statements that appear below, his playing was neither "messy" on disc nor in any of the numerous recitals I attended.)

The supreme statements of Arrau's Beethoven can be heard in the Appassionata and the late sonatas, especially the Hammerklavier. The Funeral March, Pastoral, Les Adieux, Waldstein & Tempest sonatas are also outstanding as are the Eroica and C minor variations. Many of the early sonatas sparkle as well. Out of the 32 sonatas, only one is disappointing: the Moonlight whose final movement is curiously flat. Much comment has been made on Arrau's reading of op.111. I find that the opening bars which he positions with such grandeur almost border on overstatement, something which Arrau must have re-thought as his approach on a reading on a BBC dvd filmed ca. 1970 is tighter. My recollection of his performance in concert (1971-2) is that the opening statement was also somewhat less rhetorical but still very effective. In summary, the cd reading is one of overwhelming power.

There are so many high points in these recordings (the fourth concerto is stupendous) that it would take far more words than are allotted by Amazon to cover them all. In short: immensely satisfying music that will lead the listener to a new appreciation for Beethoven.

Although I don't like all of Claudio Arrau's Beethoven, mainly because of the maestro's occasional lack of humor, I think (or, better, feel) Arrau's earlier performance (i.e. that included in this box) of the "Waldstein" sonata is the most intense and arresting performance of a piece of music, whether instrumental or vocal, I know of. Many say he is too slow, and I know other beautiful performances of this sonata which are much faster and undoubtedly exciting (e.g. those of Ashkenazy and Gilels); but the accuracy, finesse, care for the details and concentration of Arrau's rendering far outweighs, in my opinion, the higher speed and power of other interpreters. The rubato, the dynamics, the accelerandos and rallentandos, the pedalling, all seems to me AMAZINGLY beautiful.(In an era of businnesslike performances, one could only complain of too much intensity!) Quoting a previous reviewer: "In all of these [performances] Arrau gives you the impression you're living through the music with him, rather than hearing it performed from a distance". Not even Glenn Gould's and Rosalyn Tureck's "Goldberg Variations" match Arrau's miracolous performance.
The best performances Arrau has given us of Beethoven's piano music (such as those of the "Tempest", the "Appassionata", the "Hammerklavier" and of many other unnamed or less popular sonatas) can be measured alongside Furtwaengler's or Klemperer's renderings of Beethoven's symphonic, choral and operatic compositions.

Claudio Arrau's Sonatas set is one to live in. It is a cycle so full of thoughts, musical richness and grandeur, that even after repeated listening sessions you will want to hear it again, and again. I may go so far to say that it's one of the most amazing recordings of anything I've yet heard. True, it took me some time to realize this. But I've come to like Arrau's interpretations, more than any other pianist's. I don't think it would right to talk about 'the best' Beethoven cycle, as there isn't just one perfect way to the top, but so far I consider Arrau's performances deeper and more satisfying than anyone else's. He is unmatched in revealing the essence of the sonatas, and no one can hold a candle to Arrau's injections of drama in fairly every piece. It is indeed as if you're living through the sonatas yourself, as one other reviewer said.

Arrau takes a very serious, almost dark and tragic, approach to the sonatas. He may miss some of the music's humor because of that, but on the whole the effect is very rewarding. On paper it may seem that Beethoven's earlier works do not profit from Arrau's approach, but it's not true in reality. He performs these pieces as if they are just as important as the later works, and hearing him I can only prove him right. I've not yet heard anyone who makes these sometimes ignored pieces so interesting and powerful. The serious weight he gives to the very first sonata is amazing, especially in the last movement. The op.7 sonata is much more than just a pretty dancing piece. And even in the normally sunny second sonata, its dark sides are most significant in Arrau's performance. The fifth sonata is played quite slowly but with so much content and attention to every moment that it is just breathtaking. Overall, Arrau's bold and thoughtful playing reveals a great amount of hidden treasures in these sonatas and lets every phrase sing with great beauty.

The grandeur of Beethoven's middle-period works like the Moonlight, Tempest, Waldstein and Appassionata is in equally superb hands, especially in the Appassionata whose outer movements are greatly intimidating and violent, even though Arrau never plays extremely loud. Arrau's Waldstein is notable for its unusually slow first movement that yet remains fascinating all the way through. His Moonlight made me listen again to this piece that I got bored of a little. I don't think the Moonlight's last movement is weak, as others say. Maybe it doesn't live up to the extreme standards of the rest of the set, but even then it is among the better renditions. Again, the more humorous pieces of this period are less swift and surprising than in other's renditions. The final of the op.31/3 'Hunt' sonata gives no single reason to laugh. But Arrau fills the gap with so much furious power and intensity that I strongly doubt which approach to prefer. The final of Les Adieux is heaven-storming instead of the usual children's party treatment, and you may understand what I prefer.

And even after all these amazing performances, the highlight of the set hasn't been reached. That honour goes unequivocally to the late sonatas. Arrau's arresting performance of op.101 is a hint of what's coming after: the Hammerklavier. Of all the great performances I've heard of this sonata of sonatas, among them Richter, Gilels, Pollini, Kovacevich and Brendel, this is undoubtedly the best. The scrupulous attention and majesty in the first movement, the noble scherzo, the divine slow movement and the titanic fugue (faster than anyone else plays it!) combine to an ageless performance.

The last three sonatas then, all sound completely different from other recordings. Arrau gives a highly personal performance of the theme and variations of op.109, which I found mannered at first, but the more I listened the more I understood its divinity. The last variation is one of the greatest moments of all Beethoven, and likewise it is one of the most memorable performances of Arrau. The op.110 sonata is on a similar scale, with the fugue played in total devotion and concentration. Another performance I disliked at first is that of the last sonata, op.111, but I've come to realize how impressive his slower take on the first movement is. And that Arietta, oh my! It isn't an easy-listening performance and may sound strange at first, but as soon as you 'get' it, you don't want anything else. Everything is so deeply felt, intense and detailed (the trills are inhuman!), that this is my favourite Arietta.

Again, the set may not seem as good at first. Arrau misses most of Beethoven's humor, and his playing is a little slow and careful at times. But that's just the surface. Beneath, there is an immense amount of fantastic insights waiting. Arrau's early sonatas sound like they have got a repainting, and a superb one at that. The middle-period pieces get an intensely tragic and dark treatment, and the late sonatas are played quite originally and among the most profound and spirited recordings ever made. I doubted first, but now I simply love this set more than fairly any other recording I have. Regarding the comments of other reviewers here, I doubt if many will disagree. There are other ways to play Beethoven, and I greatly admire the spectacular playing of Kovacevich, the lucidity of Brendel and others. But this is a Beethoven sonata set for the ages, a great investment if there ever was one. I've heard people say Arrau is the Furtwangler of the keyboard. I don't think that's right. It's better to say that Furtwangler is the Arrau of the directors.

This Complete Beethoven Sonata recording project for Philips, spanning from 1962 through to 1967 (plus Variations in 1968), shows beyond a trace of doubt Arrau's profound, impeccable, mature musicianship and it may certainly be described as one of the pivotal landmarks of his entire, extraordinary, artistic career.
An exemplary cycle, it impresses as if Arrau was able to become a perfect conduit for Beethoven's soul. One can sense here a solid Beethoven's soul, being given to us so categorically and generously, as if proclaiming "this is where humanity's essence lies and how it is conveyed, musically".
Consequently, no doubt, in 1969 the Peters Verkampf Publishing House of Frankfurt commissioned Maestro Arrau an edition of the complete Beethoven's Sonatas from Beethoven's own original manuscripts, work later published in two parts in the 1970s.
The years went by and Claudio Arrau became increasingly further identified with Beethoven's creation as demonstrated through his numerous concerts, recitals and new recordings.
This set, in wonderfully remastered sound, is an indispensable reference source for any serious classical music lover, as well as any music library, and I am afraid it will be so for centuries to come!
The Beethoven's 5 piano concertos with Hatink (recorded in 1964) and the triple concerto with Szeryng, Starker and Inbal (in 1970), numerous times re-issued over the years all over the world and also included here, are magnificent treats of their own. As if all this was not enough, let's not forget that these recordings of the 5 piano concertos won the 1965 Deutscher Schallplattenpreis!
Unreservedly recommended!

I first heard Claudio Arrau's complete Piano Sonatas on the original Philips 15 LP(?) box set. I was delighted that it came out on CD as my LPs were starting to pop and click. My set from 1991 includes the Eroica variations, 32 variations on an Original Theme in C minor, and 6 variations in F Op 34. Actually, I prefer a slower, more expressive, tempo rendition, especially on Moonlight sonata. I don't like a "rush job" like he's in a hurry to use the latrine. The 2nd movt of his sonata #3 has a nice smooth tempo as well. I own several versions of Beethoven's sonatas (no 2 are ever played exactly the same), but this is my favorite.

This is probably the best collection of Beethoven's piano compositions.
Claudio Arrau, considered by many, as the best performer of Beethoven, showed us a rather amazing tecnique in this recordings. And what can I say about the feeling he puts in every piece?
I got this as a present for my Father, son of two pianists. Both of them studied with Arrau for years. He is a great fan of Arrau. He knows plenty about music, and he has told me that this was one of the best presents ever.
Don't doubt for a minute, that this would be a fantastic thing to buy, either if it is for you, or for someone you care for.

Great recording, amazing playing, but... I wish he had cut his nails before playing! Seriously, and I am not daydreaming since this was confirmed to me in Dubal's "Reflections from the Keyboard" book (described there as "cute"!), you can clearly hear his nails ticking on at least a dozen tracks!

From a personal viewpoint, I found several of his playing a bit "slow", such as Moonlight or even Waldstein.