These memorable performances of two monumental Romantic works by the young Johannes Brahms were given by the elderly – but young at heart – pianist Claudio Arrau in a concert in Santiago. This event, which marked his triumphant and emotional return to his native Chile in 1984 after an absence of seventeen years, was hailed as ‘miraculous’. The recording of this supercharged occasion is supplemented here with fascinating material that explores the background to Brahms’s remarkable Piano Sonata No. 3 and Piano Concerto No. 1. It is a unique testament to Arrau’s romantically intimate association with these two most enigmatically personal statements of Brahms. Recorded live at the Teatro Municipal, Santiago, Chile, May 1984. Produced and Directed by Peter Rosen.
Johannes Brahms: Piano Sonata No. 3 in F minor, Op.5; Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op.15