Chilean Pianist Back

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31785, 16 September 1968, Page 16

Chilean Pianist Back

The Chilean concert pianist, Claudio Arrau, said in Christchurch yesterday that if he stopped playing he would lose a lot of interest in living.

Mr Arrau believes that as long as there Is no sign of musical deterioration there is no age limit to the life of a concert pianist. His first concert was given when he was five and this year he is 65.

Asked what he might have liked to be had he not become a pianist, Mr Arrau replied: “Nothing. My urge towards the piano at such a tender age was so strong that there never was any question as to what I would be In life. I consider the piano a part of my body.” Over the last few years Mr Arrau has averaged 130 concerts a year. “This really is too much. Now I would like to play less and have more time between concerts for sightseeing and relaxation.” Included among his relaxations is reading. “I always travel with a little library. What I read is mostly history, philosophy, and psychology In readiness for my forthcoming tour of Japan I am reading a history of the Orient," he said.

Mr Arrau prefers live audiences to recordings. “Recordings are terribly strenuous because of the perfection needed. I feel more tired after a recording session than I do after three concerts,” he said. To find out who the public’s favourite composers are he watches audience reaction. “Without question I find that

people round the world like Beethoven the most” “When his music is being performed at a concert the audiences are larger, and also his popularity by the tremendous sales of the records,” he said.

Although young people did not seem ttf want Chopin any more, he said it seemed to him that whenever Chopin was performed the youngsters were carried away with his music in spite of themselves. One of his great loves is teaching music, although he regrets he has not had as much time to devote to this as he would like. “I have a number - of assistants who help my pupils in New York and London.” Yesterday Mr Arrau was not the happiest of men. Soon after arrival at his hotel from the airport one of his bags was found to be missing. He also found his hotel room too small and within an hour he had transferred to a suite in another hotel.

Tomorrow evening Mr Arrau will give a solo conI cert in Christchurch.