Claudio Arrau

The child prodigy pianist—reading music before reading words

The Chilean classical pianist Claudio Arrau, born on the 6th of February, 1903, was the son of an ophthalmologist and a piano teacher.

The Arrau’s were an old, prominent family in Southern Chile. Claudio’s ancestor was the Spanish engineer Lorenzo de Arrau, who was sent to Chile by King Carlos III of Spain to establish a military-grade cannon arsenal. Due to his grandmother, Claudio is also a direct descendant of the Campbell Clan, a Scottish noble family.

While young Claudio was a child prodigy, he was initially introduced to the piano by his mother. At the age of just five, he gave his first concert. One year later, Arrau performed in front of several Chilean politicians, including president Pedro Montt. Montt was so impressed by the boy that he immediately began arrangements for Arrau’s education. Eventually, the 8-year-old Arrau was sent to study music in Germany on a ten-year-long Chilean government grant.

Arrau studied at the Stern Conservatory in Berlin, where he was under Martin Krause’s tutelage—a student of the classical master Franz Liszt. As expected, this propelled Arrau’s already innate skill with the keys to a whole new level. By the age of 11, Arrau was able to play two of the most challenging piano: pieces; Liszt’s Transcendental Etudes, and Brahms’s Paganini Variations.

Arrau’s career is as extensive as his skill. He mostly found fame as a Beethoven interpreter, playing the master’s sonatas and concertos throughout the world. He played in several renowned venues with cities like New York, London, Berlin, Paris, Amsterdam and Zurich. He also played in Buenos Aires, Mexico City and Hamburg.

His recordings include 32 Beethoven Piano Sonatas, five Beethoven Piano Concertos, two Brahms Concertos, and Chopin’s complete works for piano and orchestra. Aside from this, he has also interpreted many solo works from Schumann, Brahms, Debussy, Schubert and Liszt…

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