Claudio Arrau at 85
an Appreciation by Robert Matthew-Walker
八十五岁论阿劳
一封来自罗伯特·马修·沃克的致谢信
With Mieczyslaw Horszowski playing in public at the age of 95, Magda Tagliaferra at 92 (she was born in 1893), Rubin stein at 88, Serkin at 85 (he celebrates this birthday next month) and Horowitz at 84, the mere fact of an international pianist playing in his mid-80s has become - dare one say it? - an almost commonplace occurrence. But 85 is, by any standards (not least those of a performing artist) a venerable age, one which affords us the opportunity of paying tribute to an undoubtedly great pianist in the final years of his career.
米奇斯瓦夫·霍尔绍夫斯基95岁公开演出，马尔格达·塔利亚费尔拉92岁（生于1893年），鲁宾斯坦88岁，塞尔金85岁（他将在下个月过生日），霍洛维茨84岁，这使得甚至有人敢说，一个国际钢琴家在80多岁时开演奏会是一件司空见惯的事情。然而尤其是对于那些却仍在坚持演奏的音乐家们来说，阿劳以85岁高龄开音乐会无论如何都是一件值得尊敬的事情，我们非常荣幸能有机会在他职业生涯的最后几年，向这位毋庸置疑的伟大钢琴家致敬。
Arrau in 1977
Arrau's eminence as a player of world stature has to be considered against his background, for he was born, on February 6th 1903, in Chillan, the capital of Nuble Province in South Central Chile, itself located in Chile's central valley as a leading agricultural and commercial centre. We tend to expect - even today, considering how many fine young artists hail from the Orient - that great pianists, especially those who excel in the central German-European repertoire, almost ought to be European by birth, but Arrau is, of course, Chilean. Indeed, in the field of music, it is difficult to name a more distinguished 20th-century practitioner in the art throughout the entire South American continent than Claudio Arrau.
1977年的阿劳
阿劳作为一个世界级卓越的音乐表演艺术家，他的出生背景不可忽视。他出生于1903年2月6日智利中南部努布尔省的省会奇伦。，是一个主要的农业和商业中心。甚至是在今天，即使考虑到有很多优秀的年轻艺术家来自于东方国度，我们也会倾向于理所应当地认为那些伟大的钢琴家（特别是那些擅长中德欧曲目的钢琴家）具有欧洲血统，但阿劳却毫无疑问是一位智利血统的钢琴家。在音乐领域，真的很难找到比克劳迪奥·阿劳更杰出的20世纪演奏者了，在整个南美洲大陆的艺术领域更是如此。”
He received his very early instruction in piano-playing from his mother, who was a talented amateur musician, and who discerned her son's musical gifts when he was barely able to speak. When still a child, Arrau gave his first public recital in the Chilean capital, Santiago, playing music by Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin - three of the comparatively few composers with whom we tend to link his name today. It would appear that even at that very early age, his natural musical inclinations were already formed.
他很早就从他母亲那里学会了钢琴演奏，他母亲是富有天赋的业余音乐家，在儿子几乎不会说话的时候，她就发掘出了他的音乐天赋。当阿劳还是个孩子的时候，他就在智利首都圣地亚哥举行了他的首次公开独奏会，演奏莫扎特、贝多芬和肖邦的乐曲，这些作曲家是我们今天将他的名字与之联系在一起的相对较多的其中三个作曲家。这说明甚至早在他很小的时候，他与生俱来的对于音乐的偏好已经形成了。
Formed they may have been, but it takes more than talent and inclination to make a great artist. Occasionally, it also takes luck, and Arrau showed himself to possess that when, as a direct result of the recital the Chilean Government was persuaded to fund the boy's further teaching in Berlin. Not only that, but also as an additional mark of quite exceptional altruism, the Government provided funds for the entire Arrau family to move to Berlin and live with their son for several years until his training was completed.
他已经具备了才能和爱好，但要成为一个伟大的艺术家需要的不仅仅是才能和爱好。偶尔，这也需要运气，阿劳证明了他自己拥有这种运气，因为智利政府被说动为这个男孩在柏林的进一步教学提供资金。不仅如此，而且作为特殊的利他主义的又一个标志，政府为阿劳全家提供资金，让他们搬到柏林和他们的儿子住上几年，直到他的训练结束。
And so, at the age of 11, Arrau arrived in Germany, where he began studies with Martin Krause at the Stern Conservatoire in Berlin. Krause was a remarkable musician: a fine pianist and teacher, he was born near Leipzig in 1853, and at the age of 30, played before Liszt for the first time. Liszt was impressed and for the three years until the master's death in 1886 Krause was constantly in touch with Liszt and his pupils, either personally or by letter, several of whom, in conjunction with Krause, helped to found the Lisztverein in 1885. Krause became the chairman of this institute, until it was disbanded in 1900. Quite clearly, Krause's pedigree was considerable, and as a consequence of studying exclusively with Krause (the lessons began just before the outbreak of World War I in August 1914), Arrau had entered a central shrine of classical pianism. The musical lineage can be traced - through Krause-Liszt-Czerny-Beethoven - and it must not be thought that this is some kind of sentimental gimmick, a mere combination of circumstances that has no musical value other than to pedants, for it can surely be no coincidence that Arrau's international reputation as a leading interpreter of Beethoven is the result of his own response to this pedigree.
11岁时，阿劳来到了德国，在那里他开始和马丁·克劳斯在柏林斯特恩音乐学院学习。克劳斯是一位杰出的音乐家：他是一位杰出的钢琴家和教师，1853年生于莱比锡附近，30岁时首次在李斯特面前演奏。李斯特对克劳斯印象深刻，在这位大师于1886年去世前的三年里，克劳斯一直与李斯特和他的学生保持着联系，无论是亲自联系还是写信联系，其中有几个人和克劳斯一起，在1885年帮助建立了李斯特协会。克劳斯成为这个研究所的主席，直到1900年该研究所解散。很显然，克劳斯的影响是相当可观的，由于他专注求学于克劳斯（第一次世界大战于1914年8月爆发前开始的课题），阿劳进入了学习古典主义钢琴演奏技法的圣地。阿劳音乐学习的一脉相传可以由克劳斯，李斯特追溯到车尔尼，贝多芬。提及阿劳的师承关系绝不是打感情牌做噱头，只是除了舞文弄墨之外毫无音乐价值的是事实罗列。阿劳受到人们认可成为国际公认的贝多芬音乐的诠释者并非巧合，这一声誉既证明了阿劳的实力，也是他自己用来回报师门的方式。——今天是车尔尼生日，大家弹弹599\849\299\740庆祝一下！
Martin Krause died, aged 65, in1918, when Arrau was15, by which time the older man's influence had clearly been made. Already, in 1914 and 1915, Arrau had played in Germany and in Scandinavia; following Krause's death, Arrau undertook no further formal instruction. He was certainly, despite his age, becoming a young man to watch. When he eventually returned to Chile in 1921 at 18 he was an accomplished master, and his reception both there and elsewhere in South America was totally enthusiastic.
马丁·克劳斯于1918年去世，享年65岁，当时阿劳只有15岁，那时老人的影响已经很明显了。在1914年和1915年，阿劳已经在德国和斯堪的纳维亚地区演奏过；在克劳斯死后阿劳没有进行进一步的正式知道。他的演奏水准毋庸置疑地超越了他的年龄，使他成为了一个值得关注的年轻人。1921年，当他18岁的时候再次回到智利时，他已经成为很有造诣的大师，他在智利和南美其他地方的演出无一不反响热烈。
When Arrau was 20 he made his first appearance in the USA, part of a tour which included his debuts with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Pierre Montaux and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. During the following year he succeeded Krause as a member of the facility of the Stern Conservatoire in Berlin. It was from this time that Arrau's European reputation began in earnest. In 1927 Arrau won the Grand Prix International des Pianistes in Geneva; almost as a direct result, his legendary reputation for hard work led him to accept a number of important tours and engagements which confirmed his growing reputation. At about this time, the young pianist began to make his first recordings, of which one - Liszt's "The Fountains of the Villa d 'Este" (no. 3 of the Third Year of the " Années de pèlerinag " ) has never been surpassed on disc in the last 60 years. This is one of the greatest solo piano recordings eve r made. If you do not know it, I strongly urge you to seek it out, for any doubts you may harbour regarding Arrau's greatness as a pianist will be disabused by this astonishing recording.
当阿劳20岁时，他首次在美国亮相，其中包括他在波士顿交响乐团的首次亮相，由皮埃尔·蒙托和芝加哥交响乐团。次年，他接替克劳斯成为柏林斯特恩音乐学院的成员。从那时起，阿劳在欧洲就名扬四海了。1927年，阿劳在日内瓦赢得了国际钢琴大奖赛；由于他那传奇般的勤奋工作的声誉，他受到了许多重要的巡回演出和邀约，这证实了他的名声鹊起。
大约与此同时，这位年轻的钢琴家开始录制他的第一张唱片，其中一首是李斯特的《埃斯特别墅的喷泉》（The Fountains of the Villa d 'Este）（阿劳第三年录制的《旅游岁月》专辑“Années de pèlerinag”中的第三首曲目），它的艺术高度在过去60年中在唱片录制中从未被超越过。这是阿劳所录制的最伟大的钢琴独奏唱片之一。如果你不知道，我强烈建议你去找到它听一听，因为假如你对阿劳作为钢琴家的伟大之处有所怀疑，你会被这惊人的录音所折服。
In 1929 Arrau made his first tour of Russia, and was immediately invited back for a second visit the following year. Back in Berlin in 1935 he gave the complete keyboard works of J. S. Bach during an entire season comprising 12 recitals. The following year also in Berlin he repeated the undertaking with the complete solo piano works of Mozart in five recitals. Such "marathon" appearances were by no means uncommon in the 1930s, whether in popular or classical music, and in 1938 Arrau undertook an even larger repertoire: all 32 piano sonatas and all five piano concertos of Beethoven in Mexico City. He repeated this marathon series in Buenos Aires and in Santiago in 1939, but by then the storm clouds of War were gathering over Europe. It was apparent that a new World War would not be avoided. Arrau was unwilling to remain in Berlin, and in1941 he eventually settled in New York City, where he quickly became a welcome permanent addition to the American concert scene, as well as to its pedagogical one, for Arrau accepted pupils in his newly adopted country.
阿劳于1929年首次访问了俄罗斯，并立即被邀请于次年再次访问。1935年回到柏林，他在包括12个独奏会的一整个演出季里，完成了巴赫的全部键盘作品。次年在柏林，他用五首独奏音乐会的莫扎特的钢琴独奏作品重复了这一项目。在20世纪30年代，无论在流行音乐还是古典音乐中，这样的“马拉松式”音乐会表演都并不罕见。1938年，阿劳又演绎了更多的曲目：所有32首钢琴奏鸣曲和墨西哥城贝多芬的全部五首钢琴协奏曲。1939年，他在布宜诺斯艾利斯和圣地亚哥重新出演了这个马拉松演奏会，但此时战争的乌云正聚集在欧洲上空。很明显，一场新的世界大战将无法避免。阿劳不愿意留在柏林，1941年他最终定居在纽约市，在那里，他很快成为了美国音乐界和教育界的受欢迎的永久成员，因为阿劳在他新定居的国家里开始教学生涯。
The US record-company giants RCA and CBS vied to secure his services, and Arrau made some fine (and perhaps surprising - in view of the repertoire) 78rpm recordings for both companies, to add to his pre-war Polydor albums of a fine Balakirev "lslamey" and Schumann "Carneval". For RCA he recorded sets of Beethoven's F major (op 34) and "Eroica" (op 35) Variations, two Mozart Sonatas (K 283 and K 576), Weber's First (C major) Sonata op 24 and Konzerstuck in F minor op 79 (the latter with the Chicago Symphony under Desire Defauw). The Konzerstuck was coupled (in a 4-disc 78 rpm album) with Richard Strauss's "Burleske"; a more popular Concerto Arrau recorded for RCA on 78s was Schumann's with the Detroit Symphony under Karl Kreuger. For CBS, perhaps the most remarkable album was a 5-disc 78rpm set of the complete "lberia" by Albeniz - which was reissued on one long-play album in 1950 - repertoire not normally associated with this artist, but in result one of his finest recorded performances. The remaining CBS material was less unusual: Beethoven's "Waldstein" Sonata and Third Concerto (with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra); Chopin's op 28 Preludes complete (another outstanding set, not quite equalled by his later Philips remake) and op 22 Andante Spianato (in the orchestral version, with the Little Orchestra conducted by Thomas Scherman) ; Schumann 's "Kreisleriana" (an outstanding set) and Liszt's First Concerto and Hungarian Fantasia also with Ormandy in Philadelphia.
美国唱片公司巨头RCA和CBS竞相为他服务，阿劳为两家公司制作了一些优秀的78转（RPM）唱片（好的也许有些令人吃惊），为他在战前就曾录制的Polydor唱片增加了优秀的巴拉基列夫的《伊斯拉美》（lslamey）和舒曼《狂欢节》（Carneval）。他为RCA录制了贝多芬《F大调主题变奏曲》（Op. 34）和《英雄变奏曲》（Op. 35），两首莫扎特的奏鸣曲（K.283和K.576），韦伯的《C大调第一奏鸣曲》 （Op.24） 和《f小调钢琴小协奏曲》（Op. 79，后者与迪法[Desire Defauw]指挥的芝加哥交响乐团合作）。（在一个4碟78转的专辑）《f小调钢琴小协奏曲》与理查·德斯特劳斯的《d小调滑稽曲》（Burleske in d Minor，TrV 145）；一个更受欢迎的阿劳协奏曲是由RCA公司发行在78年代录制的舒曼协奏曲，与卡尔·克鲁格（Karl Kreuger.）指挥的底特律交响乐团合作录制。对于CBS来说，也许最引人注目的专辑是一张5碟78转的阿尔贝尼兹（Albeniz）《伊比利亚》（"lberia"）全集，它是1950年在一张长期播放的专辑中重新发行的，这类作品通常与这位阿劳无关，但结果是他最出色的录音之一。其余的CBS的录音则没那么出彩：贝多芬的《“黎明”钢琴奏鸣曲》和《第三钢琴协奏曲》（与尤金·奥曼迪和费城管弦乐队合奏）；肖邦《28首钢琴前奏曲》（也是一版标杆唱片，与他后来的飞利浦的翻拍版不能完全相提并论）和《平稳的行板与华丽大波兰舞曲》的（Op.22，管弦乐版本，由托马斯·舍尔曼[Thomas Scherman]指挥小管弦乐团）；舒曼的《克莱斯勒偶记》（ "Kreisleriana"，一张标杆唱片）以及与奥迪曼指挥费城交响乐团合作的李斯特《第一钢琴协奏曲》与《匈牙利幻想曲》。
In the early 1950s Arrau also began recording for the Brunswick company in the United States. Principally, nothing less than a complete Chopin edition was planned but for a variety of reasons this was never completed: indeed, it hardly got beyond the first few long-playing records. Artistically, it did not reveal Arrau in the best light, and also the technical quality of the recordings was not outstanding. However, specialists in piano records might well wish to seek out these Brunswick albums, for they are now exceptionally rare, and consequently valuable.
在20世纪50年代初，阿劳也开始为美国的Brunswick公司录音。最主要的是，这是一个完整的肖邦版本的计划，但由于种种原因，这一计划从未完成：事实上，它几乎无法超越最初几张长期播放的唱片。在艺术上，它没有展现阿劳在最好的技巧，而且技术质量的录音并不出色。然而，钢琴录音专家却很希望找出这些Brunswick公司的专辑，因为他们现在是非常罕见的，因此意义非凡。
But with this growing catalogue of internationally-released recordings, combined with his not infrequent post-war international tours (in 1947 a major tour of Australia; in 1949 a similar visit to South Africa; in 1951 a tour of Israel and in 1956 a first tour of the Indian sub-continent) made Arrau an enviable world-wide reputation which was reinforced with the first exclusive long-term recording contract he had had, with the English Columbia Company. Signed to this branch of EMI by the legendary Walter Legge, Arrau soon embarked upon a major series of recordings: Beethoven Sonatas and Concertos dominated his recorded repertoire during the middle and late1950s and early 1960s for English Columbia, recordings notable for their outstanding combination of musical genius and technical perfection. There are some great things in EMl's vaults by this artist, but many have long since disappeared from the catalogues. Many, also, were mono only recordings, although that is not such a disadvantage in solo piano albums.
但是随着这些国际发行的唱片越来越多，加上他的战后国际巡演(1947年的一次澳大利亚之旅，1949年对南非进行了类似的访问演出;1951年以色列和1956年的一次以色列之旅1956年是印度次大陆的第一次旅行）使阿劳有一个令人羡慕的世界声誉，这一声誉促使他与已经合作过的英国哥伦比亚公司签订了第一份独家长期录制合同，与传奇人物沃尔特·莱格、EMI签约后，阿劳很快开始了一系列的录音：贝多芬的奏鸣曲和协奏曲在20世纪50年代中后期和60年代初为英国哥伦比亚乐团录制的曲目中占主导地位，阿劳唱片以其音乐天才和技术完美的杰出结合而著称。这位艺术家的曲集金库中有一些伟大的东西，但许多早已从这些目录中消失了。许多也都是单声道录音，尽管这在个人钢琴专辑中并不是一个缺点。
However, his signing by the Dutch giant Philips in the early 1960s marked the final and most significant step in his recording career, for during the last quarter-century Arrau has re-recorded most of his early material, almost invariably in finer interpretations and certainly invariably in incomparably better technical sound. Not only has he re-recorded the Beethoven Concertos again (with Haitink and the Concertgebouw Orchestra) for Philips, but has undertaken a third set (with Sir Colin Davis and the Dresden Staatskapelle) for the company. He has recorded a complete set of the Beethoven Sonatas (and has re-recorded several yet again recently), and an extensive Schumann and Chopin series, as well as Mozart, and the standard concertos of Schumann, Grieg and Tchaikovsky. It is, therefore, with the classical Viennese repertoire, and the highpoints of early Romanticism, that Arrau's name is now almost invariably linked, and, at 85, he can thankfully look back with gratitude to the Philips company (as, indeed, so can we) for permitting him to commit to permanent record form his interpretations of this major repertoire. It is, perhaps, to be regretted that Philips did not bother to tape Arrau in Messiaen (a composer whose music he has also championed), or other composers, but Arrau's greatness stems from the unbroken line that he, through Krause, and Liszt, can trace back by only three "generations" directly to Beethoven himself. No other South American pianist of this century has achieved so much as Claudio Arrau, and it is fitting that he has received many honours from most of the Latin-American countries. His birthplace, Chillan, now has a street named after him.
然而，20世纪60年代初阿劳与荷兰巨人飞利浦的签约标志着他唱片生涯的最后一步，也是最重要的一步，因为在过去的25年中，阿劳重新录制了他早期的大部分材料，几乎都是以更好的演绎来录制音乐，当然，其技术声音也是无与伦比的。他不仅为飞利浦与海地克合作重新录制了《贝多芬协奏曲》（Beethoven Concertos），而且还为飞利浦公司录制了第三首（与科林·戴维斯爵士[Sir Colin Davis]和德累斯顿国立管弦乐团合作）。他录制了全套的贝多芬奏鸣曲（最近又重新录制了几首）、大量的舒曼和肖邦系列，以及莫扎特的作品，以及舒曼、格里格和柴可夫斯基的一流协奏曲。因此，在古典维也纳曲目和早期浪漫主义的巅峰时期，阿劳的名字现在几乎总是联系在一起的，在85岁的时候，他可以感激地回顾Philips公司（我们也可以这样做），因为它允许他对这个主要曲目的解释作出永久的记录。也许应该感到惋惜的是，Philips没有费心录制梅西安（ Messiaen，他也是他所拥护的作曲家）中的阿劳或其他作曲家，但阿劳的伟大源于他在克劳斯和李斯特的音乐风格上一脉相承，并且通过继承三代人直接追溯到贝多芬本人的演奏风格……本世纪没有任何一位南美钢琴家能像克劳迪奥·阿劳那样取得如此巨大的成就，他获得了来自大多数拉丁美洲国家的许多荣誉。他的出生地奇伦现在有了一条以他名字命名的街道。
It is not just in his recordings that we can measure Arrau's musicianship; for Peters Edition, he has supervised the Urtext edition of the complete Beethoven Sonatas - a valuable contribution to recent classical musical scholarship. But, as he said in an illuminating short essay which accompanied the boxed set edition of his complete Beethoven Sonatas:
"For me, Beethoven has always stood for the spirit of man victorious. His message of endless struggle concluding in the victory of renewal and spiritual rebirth, speaks to us and to young people today with a force that is particularly relevant to our times. "In the sense that his life was an existential fight for survival, Beethoven is our contemporary. In the sense that he mastered both his life and his art to reach the ultimate heights of creation and transfiguration, he will last as long as man's spirit to prevail lasts upon earth.
"Once, when trying to explain what was so great about Furtwangler as an interpreter, I said that he had the power of divination. That is precisely what it takes to realise Beethoven in all his depths and grandeur.
我们不仅可以在他的唱片中衡量阿劳的音乐才能；在 Peters中，他还指导了贝多芬奏鸣曲全集的Urtext版，这是对最近古典音乐奖学金的宝贵贡献。但是，就像他在他的完整的贝多芬奏鸣曲的盒装版随附的一篇富有启发性的短文中所说的那样：
“对我来说，贝多芬总是代表着人的战胜精神。他的不懈奋斗是对胜利复兴和精神重生的总结，以一种与时代休戚相关的力量指引着我们和当代青年人。”他的生活是建立在生存斗争的意义上，贝多芬与我们是同时代的人。从他掌握了他的生活和艺术以达到创造和变化的终极高度的意义上说，只要人类的精神能够在地球上持续下去，贝多芬就永存。
“有一次，当我试图解释富尔特文格勒的伟大之处时，我说他有占卜的能力。这正是了解贝多芬的全部深度和伟大所需要的。
"When Beethoven said 'I write notes out of necessity', he made it quite clear from what depths his music arose. It therefore takes great power of empathy to understand his music. In Beethoven interpretation it is of the utmost importance to open one's self up to the intuitive forces of one's own being, to the unconscious as much as to the conscious, to relinquish the fear of committing oneself emotionally, to accept the agony of feeling which is in Beethoven - in order to be able to reveal the essence of Beethoven '' At an age when most people would be merely grateful to survive as best they can, Arrau's performances today continue to reveal this essence - not only of Beethoven, literally his musical great-great-grandfather, but also of the other masters of whose music he has made a lifetime's study, for his, and our, deep and profound illumination.
Robert Matthew-Walker
“当贝多芬说“我写音乐是迫不得已”时，他很清楚地表明了他的音乐是如何深入人心的。因此理解他的音乐需要很大的移情能力。在贝多芬的阐释中，最重要的是将自己的直觉力量释放，向无意识释放，向有意识释放，放弃对情感投入的恐惧，接受贝多芬的感受的痛苦，以便能够揭示贝多芬的本质。在这个大多数人只想尽自己最大的努力生存下去的时代，阿劳今天的演奏继续揭示了这一本质——不只是他对贝多芬的诠释（不夸张的说贝多芬是阿劳的音乐曾祖父），还有他对其他音乐大师的作品毕生所做出的钻研，因为他，我们才得以获得深刻而意义深远的启示。
罗伯特·马修·沃克
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