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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Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, piano : Schumann • Mozart • Liszt
Classical - Released by Ermitage Records on 27 Jun 2023
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Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli - Schumann Mozart Liszt
Classical - Released by Ermitage Records on 27 Jun 2023
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L'Art d'Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Orchestra di Torino Della RAI, Mario Rossi
Classical - Released by Tahra on 16 Nov 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Great Classical Music #56 : Le Grandi Composizioni per Clavicembalo • Jean-Philippe Rameau // François Couperin // Johann Sebastian Bach // Domenico Scarlatti // Maurice Ravel
Wanda Landowska, Ralph Kirkpatrick, Helmut Walcha, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Robert Casadesus
Classical - Released by Ermitage Records on 30 Oct 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Great Instrumentalists Of The 20th Century
Classical - Released by Classic Hits OMP on 16 Oct 2007
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Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli 3 - Mozart
Classical - Released by Ermitage Records on 10 Dec 2020
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Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, piano: The Unknown Recordings
Classical - Released by Ermitage Records on 27 Dec 2023
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Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli
Classical - Released by Azzurra Music on 20 May 2015
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The Greatest Pianists Of The 20th Century - Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli
Classical - Released by Synergie OMP on 11 May 2009
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Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, piano: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Remastered)
Classical - Released by Ermitage Records on 7 Apr 2024
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Vol. 8
Clara Haskil, Dinu Lipatti, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Henry Swoboda, Winterthur Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by ArnebAudio on 1 Mar 2024
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Chopin: Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-Flat Minor, Op. 35
Classical - Released by SendClassic on 19 Oct 2000
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Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, piano : Frédéric Chopin
Classical - Released by Ermitage Records on 19 Jun 2023
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Chopin - Valses
Classical - Released by SendClassic on 19 Oct 2001
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Grandes Virtuosos de la Música: Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Vol.2
Classical - Released by ns on 12 Aug 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Piano Maestro
Classical - Released by Classical Masters on 1 Jul 2009
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Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, piano: Robert Schumann (Remastered)
Classical - Released by Ermitage Records on 9 Apr 2024
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schumann: Carnaval
Classical - Released by Discover Classical Music on 10 Jan 2010
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Ravel Piano Concerto In G, Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 4 (Hd Remastered Edition)
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, The Ettore Gracis Philarmonia Orchestra
Jazz - Released by Resurfaced Records on 29 Dec 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Helmut Walcha and Arturo Michelangeli Perform Bach and Schumann
Helmut Walcha, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli
Classical - Released by Wamsenzo on 23 Feb 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
More Piano Giants: Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Alexander Brailowsky, Vol. 10
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Alexander Brailowsky, Philharmonia Orchestra, Ettore Gracis
Classical - Released by Intense Media GmbH on 15 Mar 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo