Born: March 14, 1908 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Died: February 21, 1980 - Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
Arnaldo Estrella was one of the finest pianists and teachers of his time. In Brazil, at that time, the two most important teachersl were Estrella, in Rio de Janeiro and Kliass, in Sao Paulo. He was an excellent interpreter of Frédéric Chopin, Sergei Rachmaninov, L.v. Beethoven and Johannes Brahms works. However, he dedicated himself mostly to the Brazilian composers. He was also a great interpreter, not only a teacher. Besides, he was certainly the most cultivated Brazilian musician The great Graciliano Ramos, who wrote Vidas Secas mentioned his friend Estrella on his work Viagens (Travels) and admired the man and the artist, writing, for example, about the general knowledge of the pianist, who used to know at least something about every subject. He used to know archeology, literature, cinema, theatre, music, socialism, philosophy... Estrella was very close to Heitor Villa-Lobos, Francisco Mignone, Lorenzo Fernandez, Henrique Oswald, Magda Tagliaferro, Guiomar Novães, Antonietta Rudge, Honorina Silva, Vlado Perlemuter, Yves Nat, Alfred Cortot, Walter Gieseking.... . He was considered the greatest Brazilian pianist in Manuel Bandeira opinion. |