Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli Rave

Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli was an Italian classical pianist. He is considered one of the greatest pianists of the twentieth century.

This is the best – the noblest, the grandest, the most tragic – Ballade in G minor ever recorded. This is the best – the most virtuostic, the most colorful, the most imaginative – set of Book I Preludes ever recorded. This is the best – the most Romantic, the most heartfelt, the funniest – Carnaval ever recorded. This is the best – the most elegant, the most witty, the most athletic – recording of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1 ever recorded.

The legendary Italian pianist Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (1920 - 1995), playing at the height of his powers, performs some of Debussy's most sensuous and arresting music for piano, in the famously rare 1962 RAI television recording, newly restored and re-mastered for this release. Michelangeli's fine control and perfect clarity - always present in his playing - have positioned him among the most outstanding recording artists of any generation. "His fingers can no more hit a wrong note or smudge a passage than a bullet can be veered off course once it has been fired…" (Music critic Harold Schonberg)

These are rare archive recordings. In 1962 Michelangeli agreed to record a series of televised studio performances for RAI Turin, though not without laying down strict stipulations: the camera set-ups were to be minimal, and there were to be no facial close-ups. Those limitations explain the austere visual style of the recordings presented here, but the light they shed on Michelangeli's artistry is in no way diminished - indeed, the restraint of the camera-work enables us to concentrate without distraction on the musical performances. Even between individual movements of the same work there is no edit, and it is clear that these are single-take interpretations.

Before the review proper, a few caveats are in order. First, half of this disc was filmed in stark and slightly grainy black and white. Second, the sound for those black and white performances is hard and a bit glassy in loud passages. But, if viewers/listeners can get past those limitations, or even if they'd just prefer to skip ahead to the full color, stereo sound second half of the program, this disc dedicated to the great Italian pianist Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli will be a marvel and a wonder. The first half includes two Scarlatti sonatas (the C minor Kk. 11 and the C major Kk. 159), two Chopin mazurkas (the G sharp minor Op. 33/1 and the B minor Op. 33/4), and one piece from Debussy's Images Set I (Hommage à Rameau) filmed in Paris in 1965. The second half consists of all 12 of Debussy's Preludes Book I filmed in Paris in 1978. And in both halves, Michelangeli is, to put it simply, perfect. His articulation is flawless, his technique effortless, his control limitless, his tone endless, and his interpretations essentially definitive. But while the pianist's admirers have always known this, they will still be amazed and astounded to watch him actually achieve this perfection. The ineffable grace and incandescent agility of his playing is breathtaking, the power and elegance of his interpretations are awe-inspiring. Seemingly without exerting himself, Michelangeli creates performances that defy space, time, and gravity. (James Leonard)