ARNALDO COHEN, piano

“This is Liszt-playing on a grand scale, putting Cohen among the greats. He yields little to Horowitz’s famous RCA recording in color and temperament. Cohen mingles narrative and textual clarity with a musical maturity and heady virtuosity in the Richter class.” (Gramophone)

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The Brazilian-born pianist Arnaldo Cohen, now living in the United States, has long had a reputation for astonishing his audiences with the musical authority and blistering virtuosity of his performances. He has appeared regularly as soloist with major orchestras, such as the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. His solo recitals everywhere draw enthusiastic crowds of cognoscenti. Critics, too, marvel at his mixture of musical complexity and élan.

“A model of balance and imagination" was Steve Smith’s verdict in his review of Mr. Cohen’s Town Hall recital in The New York Times.

Mr. Cohen performed Brahms’ Concerto No. 1 in D Minor with the Milwaukee Symphony and was reviewed by Tom Strini of the Milwaukee Journal: “The combination of technical command and expressive insight he demonstrated Friday is every musician’s goal."

After performing a recital in Philadelphia, Mr. Cohen drew the following praise from distinguished critic David Patrick Stearns of the Philadelphia Inquirer: "Cohen has the smarts, the emotional presence, and the technique of a major Chopin interpreter. Unlike many similarly exciting pianists, Cohen has built a loyal public with his annual Philadelphia Chamber Music Society concerts by presenting new variations on himself at every visit."

And, in the words of no less a piano authority than former New York Times critic the late Harold C. Schonberg: "First of all there is his sound – a burnished, unforced bronze-like sound somewhat in the Rachmaninoff manner. In a day when so many pianists sound bleak and percussive, Cohen produces a big sound that never splinters and is capable of any kind of nuance. He understands the pedals. He has a world-class technique. His playing, color and all, has text-book clarity. And he understands the Romantic style."

After winning First Prize at the 1972 Busoni International Competition, in Italy, Mr. Cohen scored a triumph at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. Soon after he moved to London and went on to build a repertoire of some 50 concertos and to perform with such orchestras as the Royal Philharmonic, the Philharmonia, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, and the Santa Cecilia Orchestra of Rome, collaborating with conductors Kurt Masur, Kurt Sanderling, Klaus Tennstedt, and Yehudi Menuhin (who described Cohen as “one of the greatest pianists I have ever heard").

“An underground swell of admiration, if not quite a cult, has developed around this dapper musician", wrote critic Allan Ulrich. “This is a fabulous talent". (San Francisco Chronicle).

As a former professional violinist, teacher of physics, mathematics, cocktail pianist, and avid soccer fan, Mr. Cohen’s unconventional background contributed to the aura of surprise and discovery that attended virtually every one of his public performances, a quality that greatly enhanced his success in the major concert halls of Europe and later the United States. Mr. Cohen’s interpretations have been greeted with such sweeping accolades as “magisterial”, “thrilling”, “intrepid”, “exultant”, and “trenchant”, all of which are a metric of Cohen’s extraordinary pianism. In many cases his playing has on different occasions drawn favourable comparisons with the work of such very different artists as Richter, Horowitz, Arrau, Argerich, Serkin, Gieseking, Lupu, and Kissin, a testament to the protean nature of his musicianship and virtuosity. Despite these comparisons, however, Mr. Cohen has developed a voice entirely his own.

Mr. Cohen has performed in solo recitals throughout the United States. One of his recitals, in Chicago, ignited the highest praise from John von Rhein, senior music critic of the Chicago Tribune: "He is the greatest pianist you’ve never heard of. Cohen’s sensational recital added his name to the list of important performers who have made their local debuts before going on to become household names. If there is any justice in the world, he will do the same."

In addition to his recital and orchestral appearances, Mr. Cohen has dedicated himself to the art of chamber music. For five years, he was a member of the prestigious Amadeus Trio with violinist Norbert Brainin and cellist Martin Lovett. He has also performed with many string quartets, including the Lindsay Quartet, Chillingirian Quartet, Orlando Quartet, and the Vanbrugh Quartet.

Mr. Cohen’s recordings generated equally accolades from the press. "This is Liszt-playing on a grand scale, putting Cohen among the greats. He yields little to Horowitz’s famous RCA recording in color and temperament. Cohen mingles narrative and textual clarity with a musical maturity and heady virtuosity in the Richter class." (Jeremy Nicholas, Gramophone)

"These performances pack a tremendous visceral punch but are among the most musically intelligent recordings of these celebrated pieces to grace the catalogue. Cohen shows how a magisterial Lisztian can shape lyrical content and play up contrasts of texture while shaping a firmly coherent musical structure. There are few pianists who can touch him when he hauls out the heavy technical artillery in Rhapsody Espagnole’s breathtaking runs, whirlwind octaves and all." (John von Rhein, Chicago Tribune)

"Like Claudio Arrau, Cohen fully savours the dramatic implications (Sonata in B Minor) within slower, rhetorical sequences, yet raises the scintillation factor threefold in the infamous octave passages enough to run neck and neck alongside Martha Argerich’s molten temperament." (Jed Distler, BBC Music Magazine)

BIS release of Mr. Cohen’s recording of the two Liszt Piano Concertos and the Totentanz with the Sao Paulo State Symphony Orchestra was commented by Jeremy Nicholas from Gramophone stating that "for unapologetic bravura combined with intimate poetry, a complete empathy with Liszt’s intentions and full-blooded recorded sound, Cohen and his cohorts are hard to beat."

Mr. Cohen’s pioneering CD, “Three Centuries of Brazilian Music” on the BIS label has also been widely applauded by critics, with Bryce Morrison of Gramophone praising Cohen as “an intrepid explorer and immaculate pianist”, and Jessica Duchen of the International Piano Quarterly commenting, “Arnaldo Cohen’s playing is technically superb and full of the foot-tapping impetuosity of Brazilian dance, but also projects a sense of affection and nostalgia that appeals straight to the heart. So this disc is a triumph on several counts: as a performance, as a manifesto for Brazilian classical music and as a valuable resource to those wanting to explore this overly-neglected repertoire."

Mr. Cohen’s previous recordings for other labels such as IMP Classics, Naxos and Vox, all of which were awarded high praise, have included classic performances of works by Liszt, Schumann, and Brahms. "I know of no modern recording of the Brahms-Handel Variations that approaches this one", wrote piano authority Harold Schonberg in a review of Cohen’s recording of the work for the Vox label.

An artist of diverse interests and talents, Mr. Cohen began his musical studies at the age of five, graduating from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro with an honours degree in both piano and violin, while also studying for an engineering degree. He went on to become a professional violinist in the Rio de Janeiro Opera House Orchestra to earn a livelihood while continuing piano studies with Jacques Klein, a disciple of the legendary American pianist, William Kapell. At the urging of Klein, Mr. Cohen pursued further training in Vienna with Bruno Seidlhofer and Dieter Weber.

Mr. Cohen is the recipient of a fellowship awarded by the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and taught at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He was awarded the “Ordem do Rio Branco”, a commendation given by the Brazilian Government for his contribution to culture and recently, the “Ordem do Ipiranga”, the highest commendation given by the State of São Paulo, Brazil.

In the last forty years, he has given numerous masterclasses in some of the most distinguished academic institutions around the world as well as serving as a jury member of many prestigious International Piano Competitions such as Chopin, in Poland, Van Cliburn in the USA and Busoni, in Italy. Mr. Cohen has written many music related articles and reviews for several respected Brazilian publications.

Mr. Cohen is a Distinguished Professor at the prestigious Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University, where he has been teaching since 2004.

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