Celebrated for the extraordinary colours he could draw from the piano, Michelangeli’s repertoire stretched from Debussy to Beethoven.

A tribute by Mark Bebbington:

Il grande. Two simple words with which my own teacher and mentor, Aldo Ciccolini, still today describes in awed tones his own pianist god – Michelangeli. His celebrated coupling of Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G with Rachmaninov’s Fourth remains a benchmark for all pianists, but for players who were too young to hear him in the concert hall, there remains his unique solo CD legacy; perhaps best of all Mompou’s Cançons i danses (No 6), where he digs to the Catalan roots of this simple miniature to reveal an ecstatic poem of the soul. Pure genius.

Recommended recording