I thought this one as little more pricey than usual, but still worth it. As I may have said, I recognized
Arrau's pianism and appreciated it early on in his American Decca and EMI days. (He produced some fabulous sounds from his Baldwin concert grand back then, and switched to Steinway later.) When he switched to Philips, he was, of course, much older, but I was
not as much taken with his playing except (especially Beethoven). It was kind of like that with
Alfred Brendel when he recorded for Vox, just after his studies with Edwin Fischer, then switched to Philips. Musically, I was more taken with the early Brendel, but then there are a number of great things of his on Philips (now Decca/Universal) that I admire very much. Brilliant issued a fine boxed set with all of Brendel's recordings on Vox and Vanguard. Now they have issued a complete Brendel on Philips (I think it's complete), but I already have so much on Philips that I really wanted, I decided to pull away from the Brendel set.
slofstra wrote:Thanks for the notice, Lance. I pre-ordered this immediately, especially when I saw the very reasonable price.
Arrau continues to be one of my favourite pianists.
Just last night I was listening to his rendition of Brahm's Variations on a Theme by Haydn. The rhythm and colour displayed in his pianism always make my ears perk up. This is a marvellous recording. And now I have to admit I'm slightly puzzled, as this piece was composed for orchestra, and like many of Brahm's compositions, in a version for two pianos. I'm fairly sure I only heard one.
