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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Master of Classic Music, Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 23
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Carlo Maria Giulini, Orchestra Sinfonica Di Roma Della RAI
Classical - Released by Oscardigital on Sep 15, 1987
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Piano Concertos (Haydn, Mozart, Ravel, Beethoven & Schumann)
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Nino Sanzogno, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale
Classical - Released by In Vinyl We Trust on Aug 19, 2022
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli 5 - Schumann
Classical - Released by Ermitage Records on Dec 10, 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 15 in B-Flat Major, K. 450 - Schumann: Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 54 (Remastered 2023) (Live)
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Hermann Scherchen, Orchestra Della Svizzera Italiana
Concertos - Released by Archipel on Oct 6, 2023
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart & R. Schumann: Piano Concertos
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Orchestra Alessandro Scarlatti di Napoli della RAI, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai, Franco Caracciolo, Mario Rossi
Classical - Released by Archipel on Nov 6, 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, piano : Schumann • Mozart • Liszt
Classical - Released by Ermitage Records on Jun 27, 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli - Schumann Mozart Liszt
Classical - Released by Ermitage Records on Jun 27, 2023
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 Oct 30, 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli 3 - Mozart
Classical - Released by Ermitage Records on Dec 10, 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, piano: The Unknown Recordings
Classical - Released by Ermitage Records on Dec 27, 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli
Classical - Released by Azzurra Music on May 20, 2015
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 Mar 1, 2024
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin: Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-Flat Minor, Op. 35
Classical - Released by SendClassic on Oct 19, 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, piano : Frédéric Chopin
Classical - Released by Ermitage Records on Jun 19, 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin - Valses
Classical - Released by SendClassic on Oct 19, 2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Grandes Virtuosos de la Música: Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Vol.2
Classical - Released by ns on Aug 12, 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Piano Maestro
Classical - Released by Classical Masters on Jul 1, 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, piano: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Remastered)
Classical - Released by Ermitage Records on Apr 7, 2024
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, piano: Robert Schumann (Remastered)
Classical - Released by Ermitage Records on Apr 9, 2024
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schumann: Carnaval
Classical - Released by Discover Classical Music on Jan 10, 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo