Claudi Arimany

Claudi Arimany i Barceló (born in Granollers, Catalonia, December 29, 1955) is an international flautist, considered the direct heir, both in interpretative style and in musical concept, of Jean-Pierre Rampal, his mentor and colleague in many concerts. Since the 1980s he has performed with leading international orchestras as a guest soloist, as well as teaching and working to study and revive pieces for flute.

Biography Claudi Arimany started his business studies at ESADE while learning to play the flute as a hobby. Back then, he was more interested in jazz than in classical music and did not expect to pursue a professional musical career. He took lessons from pianist and composer Josep Maria Ruera in Arimany's home city and from Salvador Gratacós in Barcelona. Gratacós sought to foster a keen interest in the instrument and its repertoire among his students and to create an environment geared towards continuous improvement. Gratacós also invited two masters of that time, Alain Marion and Jean-Pierre Rampal, to participate in the classes when they visited Barcelona to perform. This was how Arimany met master Rampal, but it was not until Arimany saw him act at the Palau de la Música Catalana that he decided to change tack and continue his musical studies in Nice and Paris with masters such as Georgy Sebok, Alain Marion and Raymond Guiot. In 1982 he obtained his diploma in Paris, with a first prize awarded unanimously by the jury.

He lives close to his native region, in Llerona (Les Franqueses del Vallès), whose municipal music school is named after him, and teaches at the "Josep Maria Ruera" Granollers Music School.

Professional career Arimany has always performed as a soloist artist, but he has shared the stage with leading figures, such as Jean-Pierre Rampal, Maxence Larrieu, Aurèle Nicolet Constantine Orbeliani, Victor Pikaisen, Janos Rolla, Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Nicanor Zabaleta, Marielle Nordmann, Mischa Maisky Victoria de los Angeles, Roland Pidoux and Claudio Scimone.

His work as a performer of international stature has led him to play in major concert halls, such as the Chicago Symphony Center, the Washington Library of Congress, Carnegie Hall in New York Boston Symphony Hall, the Palau de la Musica Catalana in Barcelona, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Beethoven House in Bonn, the National Auditorium of Music in Madrid, the Palais Auersperg in Vienna, the Beijing Concert Hall, the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Rudolfinum and Smetana Theatre in Prague, the Gasteig in Munich, the Liederhalle in Stuttgart, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, the Salle Pleyel and Salle Gaveau in Paris, Suntory Hall and Bunka Kaykan in Tokyo, and the Konzerthaus in Vienna.

Arimany has also travelled around the world and been invited by leading international groups, such as the Berlin Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, China National Symphony Orchestra, Bach Orchestra Stuttgart, Moscow Chamber Orchestra, Stuttgarter Kammerorchester, European Union Chamber Orchestra, I Virtuosi Italiani, Czech Philharmonic Mendelssohn Chamber Orchestra Philharmonia Virtuosi New York, New American Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra Internazionale d'Italia, Virtuosi di Praga Chamber Orchestra, Franz Liszt Orchestra Budapest, Arthur Rubinstein Chamber Orchestra Polonia, Israel Sinfonietta, Ensemble Orchestral of Paris, and his flutes. The one with the emotional value, which he uses in concerts, is the iconic WS Haynes gold flute.

He has been a member of the jury at the International JP Rampal Flute Competition, held in Paris.

Musical research Beyond his extensive work as an interpreter, Arimany has devoted much of his activity to study, recover and spread the work of great forgotten composers. The popularity of the great masters often casts talented disciples and contemporary artists into obscurity. In the words of Arimany, "I am still very interested in the music of the great composers who worked 'around' those who are now better known".

When, in 1986, he submitted a project to edit Bach's pieces for flute to a German label, it was received without interest, since many recordings of this author existed already. Arimany's response to this rejection was to team up with soloists Alexander Schmoller (cello) and Michael Gruber (harpsichord) to review and select virtually unknown pieces practically by German disciples of the Thuringian master. The challenging recovery project culminated in the 1986 release of the album Virtuose Flötenmusik der Bach-Schüler by the German Motette record label (Wiesbaden).

His special interest in finding Catalan composers who had written for the flute led him to highlight the work of Joan Baptista Pla (Balaguer, 1720–1762), a contemporary of Mozart who travelled throughout Europe, few works of whom have survived. In early 1990, the musicologist Joseph Dolcet found original sheet music by Pla in Germany, which Arimany incorporated into his repertoire together with other material by Pla and his brother Manuel Pla. He later recorded two CDs, one with Jean-Pierre Rampal and the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra with works by Joan Plan, and another with three concerts with the English Chamber Orchestra.

At the end of 2020 he published a compilation of all the work for flute by the brothers Albert Franz Doppler and Karl Doppler, the result of his research for conservatories and libraries in Europe started in 2007. The result is 12 CDs with 97 pieces, 64 of which are first recordings. Arimany had performed Doppler music at his concerts with Rampal in the 1990s, Mozart Claudi Arimany and Moscow Chamber Orchestra Ensayo Digital - CD9935 1999 (2006) W. Amadeus Mozart : FÜR Flote Und Neue quartet Streichtrio; Hoffmeister Trio Cello Und fleet FÜR 2 Carlota Garriga Carlota Garriga and Claudi Arimany 1997 Romantic Music for 2 Flutes & Piano Joan Baptista Pla Claudi Arimany - English Chamber Orchestra Ensayo Digital - CD9925 1999 Baby Needs More Mozart (The Magic Flute K.620) Salvador Brotons Claudi Arimany and Orchestra da Camera Gli Armonici CIMS/004 Regione Siciliana 1996 Mozart : Flute Concertos Mozart Claudi Arimany, Jean-Pierre Rampal and Hungarian Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra Prodigital Records - CD2419 1996 Six Trios Pour 3 Flutes François Devienne Jean-Pierre Rampal, Claudi Arimany and Alain Marion Traversieres Flute Collection - CD 210/259 1995 Catalan Flute Music of the 18th Century Music of the French Belle Epoque Claudi Arimany, Marc Grauwels and Orchestre de Chambre de Waterloo Syrinx Records - CD 93102 1993 European Flute Festival, Frankfurt am Main Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Johann Gottfried Müthel, Karl Friedrich Abel and Johann Philipp Kirnberger Claude Arimany, Alexander Schmoller and Michael Gruber Motette Ursina - CD 30141