Thursday, April 19, 2012

Weber: Sonata No. 1 (Claudio Arrau)

Claudio Arrau, 1941
The Chilean pianist Claudio Arrau (1903-1991) left a vast recorded repertoire (a complete discography can be found here).  However, the portion of it dating from the 78-rpm era is quite meager, and it really only got underway when Arrau moved to New York in 1941 and began recording for Victor.  His output for Victor was not large (only five sets, plus a fascinating account of Bach's "Goldberg Variations" that didn't get released until 1988), but it featured large-scale works for the first time in his recording career.  The first recording he made for Victor was of this Weber sonata, a work he did not record again:

Weber: Sonata No. 1 in C Major, Op. 24
Claudio Arrau, piano
Recorded February 20, 1941
Victor Musical Masterpiece Set M-884, three 78-rpm records
Link (FLAC files, 51.09 MB)
Link (MP3 files, 30.22 MB)

A PDF file, reproducing the original booklet for Set M-884, is included with the download.

3 comments:

  1. Bryan, this post deserves special
    commendation! I confess I'd never
    heard this sonata in its entirety
    before. Thinking of other famous
    recordings of the final movement,
    I'd say Arrau could hold his own
    against the likes of Moiseiwitsch,
    Hofmann, etc. Well chosen!

    ReplyDelete
  2. not available at mediafire. Could you post again elsewhere?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Just put a new link up this morning; please let me know if it works for you.

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