Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli
One of the most enigmatic performers of the 20th century, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli was also one of the most compelling and, paradoxically, one of the least-heard pianists of his generation. Michelangeli was famous for having canceled nearly as many performances as he gave, and he committed little of his vast repertory to disc.
Michelangeli was born on January 5, 1920, in Orzinuovi, Italy. His father was a dedicated amateur musician who introduced young Benedetti to the art. After early studies on the violin, Michelangeli took up the piano, entering the Milan Conservatory at the age of ten.
In 1939 Michelangeli's concert career began in earnest after he claimed top honors at the International Piano Competition in Geneva. Of his triumphant performance at the competition, no less a luminary than the great Alfred Cortot exclaimed, "A new Liszt is born!" Service in the Italian Air Force during World War II interrupted Michelangeli's career; taking the stage again at war's end, however, he soon earned a place among the top performers of the day.
In 1960 Michelangeli performed Beethoven's "Emperor" Concerto in Vatican City for the Pope. A triumphant 1964 appearance in Moscow reportedly had the audience in an uproar, and in 1965 Michelangeli became one of the first Western artists to concertize extensively in Asia.
In the 1970s and 1980s he made fewer and fewer concert appearances, owing both to consistent health troubles and his growing aversion to public display. During a performance in Bordeaux in October 1988 he suffered an aortic aneurysm onstage; nevertheless, he resumed performing the following season. He gave his last public performance in 1990 and died five years later died from the chronic medical problems that had plagued him since childhood.
Michelangeli regarded the life of a concert pianist as one of labor. His own schedule included upwards of ten hours of practice a day; he suggested to his pupils that they cease practicing only when the pain in the fingers and shoulders became too great for them to continue. Michelangeli took his role as a mentor very seriously; he held various teaching positions in Italy and throughout Europe, and included Martha Argerich and Maurizio Pollini among his pupils.
To many Michelangeli's playing was the ideal blend of technique and uncanny musical depth. His subtlety, revealed in such masterly recordings as Brahms' Paganini Variations, is in restraint and detachment -- calculated to temper power and fury, not to replace it. His performances of Mozart, Haydn, and Scarlatti are particularly esteemed.
Michelangeli never wholly embraced life as a concert artist. He felt that to pour such adulation on a performer was a disgrace, and that it distracted the performer from the very essence of his duty. A deeply private man, Michelangeli had a tendency to distort the truth during interviews, making it difficult for musicologists and historians to build an accurate portrait of his life; he will likely remain a fascinating, little-understood man.
© TiVo
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Schumann: Piano Concerto / Debussy: Images
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Orchestre de Paris, Daniel Barenboim
Klassiek - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1 jan. 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 20 & 25 (Live)
NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Cord Garben, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli
Klassiek - Released by Deutsche Grammophon GmbH, Hamburg on 1 jan. 1989
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Piano Recital
Klassiek - Released by Warner Classics on 2 feb. 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Liszt, Grieg, Debussy, Ravel: Piano Works
Klassiek - Released by Urania Records on 16 mrt. 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
De Falla, Dvořák & Mozart: Orchestral Works (Live)
Orchestra Sinfonica Di Roma Della RAI, Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano della Rai, Carlo Maria Giulini, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli
Klassiek - Released by Archipel on 29 sep. 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Debussy: Piano Works
Klassiek - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1 jan. 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Art of Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli - Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 32 / Galuppi: Sonata No. 5 / Scarlatti: Sonatas, K 11, 159 & 322
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 14 mei 1965
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Debussy Album
Klassiek - Released by UME - Global Clearing House on 10 aug. 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli plays Debussy
Klassiek - Released by UME - Global Clearing House on 12 jun. 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin: Mazurkas, Scherzo, Prélude Op.45, Ballade Op.23
Klassiek - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 28 sep. 2018
The Qobuz Essential Discography16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin, Liszt, Bach, Scarlatti & Albeniz (Diapason n°601)
Klassiek - Released by Les Indispensables de Diapason on 25 dec. 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Grieg: Concerto pour piano, 10 Mélodies & 3 Pièces pour piano (Les indispensables de Diapason)
Clifford Curzon, Oivin Fjeldstad, Kirsten Flagstad, Sir Malcolm Sargent, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli
Klassiek - Released by Les Indispensables de Diapason on 18 mrt. 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Piano Recital: Michelangeli, Arturo Benedetti - Beethoven / Chopin / Ravel (1987) (Ludwig van Beethoven - Fryderyk Chopin - Maurice Ravel)
Klassiek - Released by Divox on 1 jan. 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Piano Concertos No.13 KV 415 & No.15 KV 450 (Live)
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Cord Garben
Klassiek - Released by Deutsche Grammophon GmbH, Hamburg on 1 jan. 1990
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Master Pianist Plays Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn, Schumann, Brahms, Chopin, Rachmaninov, Ravel
Klassiek - Released by Warner Classics on 2 jun. 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No.5 (Live)
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Wiener Symphoniker, Carlo Maria Giulini
Klassiek - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1 jan. 1982
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Debussy: Clair De Lune (CC)
Alexis Weissenberg, Zoltán Kocsis, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli
Klassiek - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1 jan. 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Steinway Legends: Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli
Klassiek - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1 jan. 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Haydn - Piano Concertos Nos 4 and 11
Klassiek - Released by Warner Classics on 1 jan. 1988
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rachmaninov: Complete Symphonies & Concertos
Symfonische muziek - Released by Musical Concepts on 20 jan. 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ravel: Concerto pour piano in G Major - Rachmaninoff: Concerto pour piano No. 4 in G Minor (Stereo Version)
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Philharmonia Orchestra, Ettore Gracis
Divers - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1959
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo