# 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, Zagreb Soloists, English Chamber Orchestra Amadeus Chamber Orchestra and Berliner Kammerorchester.

### Relationship with Jean-Pierre Rampal

In addition to his career as a flautist, Jean-Pierre Rampal embarked on a paedagogical quest to recover and spread the flute repertoire, becoming the teacher of an entire generation. Arimany, who had studied with him, began to work with him in the late 1980s. The perfect understanding between them led Rampal to state: "He is the perfect continuation of the French school of flute and my style of play to such extent that even if I listen carefully to the record we created together I cannot tell whether it is he or I who is playing."
The last album they recorded together was dedicated to Mozart and Hoffmeister and released in 1999. Shortly before, Rampal had written his opinion on the art of his pupil and tour companion, which can be considered his artistic will.
   Claudi Arimany is, in my opinion, one of the greatest flautists of his generation. He is one of those virtuosi who put technique, sonority and the colours of phrasing at the service of musicality and sensitivity, something not within the grasp of many.
As well as his artistic legacy, Arimany kept much of Rampal's music library and his flutes. The one with the greatest 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 - Schüler der Bach 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.
The trail of little-known authors took him to the work of François Devienne, a composer and performer who had been popular in his time, earning the moniker "the French Mozart", and had founded the Conservatoire de Paris. However, he had been forgotten until the late 1970s, when his works were reprised. In the mid-1990s, Arimany found the 18th-century edition of all Devienne's concerts. The continuous recovery of works by this author allowed for concerts to be performed in many venues, including the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris, together with the Paris Orchestral Ensemble in November 1994. Arimany has recorded four CDs with the fourteen concertos for flute and orchestra by Devienne, a type of music which Arimany considers "natural, clear, elegant and melancholic, and requires great technical skill".
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, and once the research began he released two CDs with pieces for two flutes in 2010 and 2012.

## Discography

| Year | Album | Author | Interpreters | Record |
| 2010 | The Brothers Doppler of flute music Music for 2 Flutes & Piano. Vol. 1 | Albert Franz Doppler & Karl Doppler | Claude Arimany Shigenori Kudo and Alan Branch | Saphir Productions - B0064TM7VG |
| 2012 | Franz & Karl Doppler Music for 2 Flutes & Piano. Vol. 2 & 3 | Albert Franz Doppler & Karl Doppler | Claudi Arimany, John Steele Ritter, Alan Branch, Marta Gulyás and Michel Wagemans | Saphir Productions - LVC1178 |
| 2010 | Mozart Flute Concerts | 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 | Mozart and Franz Anton Hoffmeister | Jean-Pierre Rampal Claude Pasquier Trio and Arimany | Querstand Records |
| 2011 | Complete Flute Concertos Vol. IV | François Devienne | Claude Arimany Symphonic Orchestra and Kishinev | Aurophon - CD |
| 2006 | W. Amadeus Mozart : Trios for 2 Flutes and Piano | Mozart | Shigenori Kudo Claudi Arimany and John Steele Ritter | Epson |
| 2006 | Une Vie Pour La Musique | François Devienne | Claude Arimany, Alain Marion et al. | Analekta - B000E0VO0Q |
| 2005 | Empúries environments ; Meditation CD | Josep Maria Ruera | Jordi Maso and Claudi Arimany | Columna Musica - B00008S81J |
| 2005 | Elegy | Carlota Garriga | Carlota Garriga and Claudi Arimany | Columna Musica - B0013IOG4O |
| 1997 | Romantic Music for 2 Flutes & Piano | Albert Franz Doppler, Friedrich Kuhlau, Mozart, Theobald Böhm, Paul Creston, Friedrich Kuhlau | Jean-Pierre Rampal Claudi Arimany and John Steele Ritter | Delos - DDD3212 |
| 2003 | Magic Flutes | Mozart, François Devienne, Georg Philipp Telemann and Michel Blavet | Jean-Pierre Rampal and Claudi Arimany | Delos DE3226 - |
| 2003 | Flute Concert : Mozart and His Friends | Mozart, Pavel Vranicky and Franz Anton Hoffmeister | Claudi Arimany and Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra | Novalis |
| 2003 | J. J. Quantz: Konzerte FÜR Eine Und Zwei Flöten | Johann Joachim Quantz | Claudi Arimany, Joseph F. Palou and Hungarian Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra | Columna Musica |
| 2003 | French Flute Favourites | Philippe Gaubert and Hector Berlioz | Arimany, Claudi et al. | Naxos |
| 2002 | The Flute In Mozart 'S Time In Paris. Three flute concertos | Mozart, Ignaz Pleyel and Anton Stamitz | Navy and Claudi Arimany Paccagnella harp - Wroclaw Chamber Orchestra "Leopoldinum" | Papa Music - CD1002 |
| 2000 | Concerti for flute | Joan Baptista Pla | Claudi Arimany - English Chamber Orchestra | Ensayo Digital - CD9925 |
| 1999 | Baby Needs More Mozart (The Magic Flute K.620) | Mozart | Claudi Arimany, Jean-Pierre Rampal | Delos |
| 1998 | Baby Needs Mozart (K.448 Piano Sonata 2) | Mozart | Claudi Arimany, Jean-Pierre Rampal and John Steele Ritter | Delos |
| 1998 | Baby Needs Baroque (Sonata for 2 flutes N.4) | Georg Philipp Telemann | Claudi Arimany and Jean-Pierre Rampal | Delos |
| 1997 | Conferenza Musicale Mediterranea | 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 | Joan Baptista Pla | Claudi Arimany, Jean-Pierre Rampal and Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra | Sony Classical - SK- CD- 58918 |
| 1995 | Six Trios pour Basson et 2 Flutes | François Devienne | Jean-Pierre Rampal Arimany Claude Gilbert Audin | Traversieres Flute Collection |
| 1994 | Le Rossignol Opera | 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 | François Devienne | Arimany, Claudi et al. | DGFF001 |
| 1993 | Complete Flute Concertos Vol. III | François Devienne | Claudi Arimany and Russian Chamber Orchestra | Aurophon - CD 32172 |
| 1993 | Complete Flute Concertos Vol. II | François Devienne | Claudi Arimany and Russian Chamber Orchestra | Aurophon - CD 32162 |
| 1990 | Complete Flute Concertos Vol. I | François Devienne | Claude Arimany Symphonic Orchestra and Gdansk | Aurophon - CD 32002 |
| 1986 | Virtuose der Flötenmusik Bach-Schüler | 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 |