The Teachings and Piano Technique of Claudio Arrau: a Lecture by Bennett Lerner, Part 1

This is a lecture I gave at Payap University, Chiang Mai, Thailand, on June 17, 2009. A week later, I repeated it at the First Bangkok Piano Pedagogy Symposium. I was assisted by my student, Achira Assawadecharit (“Ken”). I do not know who made the recording; it was sent to me anonymously some years afterwards. The quality is poor; the recording was possibly made with a mobile phone; and it stops before the final performances. Just before walking out on stage, something traumatic but unrelated happened and it takes me a while to get control of my nerves. Nevertheless, as a number of people have expressed interest in hearing this lecture on such an interesting topic, I have decided to upload it. For further information on Arrau’s teaching, I highly recommend Victoria von Arx’s book, “Piano Lessons with Claudio Arrau”, which includes transcripts of two lessons I had with Arrau in the 1960s.