Great Pianists of the 20th Century - Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy, Domenico Scarlatti, Baldassare Galuppi
Label: Great Pianists of the 20th Century
Magazine Review Date: 10/1998
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 133
Mastering:
Stereo
DDD
Mono
ADD
Catalogue Number: 456 901-2PM2
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| (6) Images |
Claude Debussy, Composer
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Piano Claude Debussy, Composer |
| (24) Préludes, Movement: Danseuses de Delphes |
Claude Debussy, Composer
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Piano Claude Debussy, Composer |
| (24) Préludes, Movement: Les sons et les parfums |
Claude Debussy, Composer
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Piano Claude Debussy, Composer |
| (24) Préludes, Movement: Des pas sur la neige |
Claude Debussy, Composer
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Piano Claude Debussy, Composer |
| (24) Préludes, Movement: La fille aux cheveux de lin |
Claude Debussy, Composer
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Piano Claude Debussy, Composer |
| (24) Préludes, Movement: La cathédrale engloutie |
Claude Debussy, Composer
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Piano Claude Debussy, Composer |
| (24) Préludes, Movement: Minstrels |
Claude Debussy, Composer
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Piano Claude Debussy, Composer |
| (24) Préludes, Movement: La puerta del Vino |
Claude Debussy, Composer
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Piano Claude Debussy, Composer |
| (24) Préludes, Movement: Général Lavine eccentric |
Claude Debussy, Composer
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Piano Claude Debussy, Composer |
| (24) Préludes, Movement: Les terrasses des audiences |
Claude Debussy, Composer
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Piano Claude Debussy, Composer |
| (24) Préludes, Movement: Ondine |
Claude Debussy, Composer
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Piano Claude Debussy, Composer |
| (24) Préludes, Movement: Homage à S. Pickwick Esq., PPMPC |
Claude Debussy, Composer
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Piano Claude Debussy, Composer |
| (24) Préludes, Movement: Feux d'artifice |
Claude Debussy, Composer
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Piano Claude Debussy, Composer |
| Piano Sonata No. 5 |
Baldassare Galuppi, Composer
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Piano Baldassare Galuppi, Composer |
| Sonatas for Keyboard Nos. 1-555, Movement: C minor, Kk11 (L352) |
Domenico Scarlatti, Composer
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Piano Domenico Scarlatti, Composer |
| Sonatas for Keyboard Nos. 1-555, Movement: C (L104) |
Domenico Scarlatti, Composer
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Piano Domenico Scarlatti, Composer |
| Sonatas for Keyboard Nos. 1-555, Movement: A (L483) |
Domenico Scarlatti, Composer
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Piano Domenico Scarlatti, Composer |
| Gaspard de la nuit |
Maurice Ravel, Composer
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Piano Maurice Ravel, Composer |
| Concerto for Piano and Orchestra |
Maurice Ravel, Composer
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Piano Ettore Gracis, Conductor Maurice Ravel, Composer Philharmonia Orchestra |
Author: Bryce Morrison
Michelangeli’s imperious and fastidious art invites constant reassessment. He can bring a touch of frost and masterfulness to Debussy’s most fragile and evanescent utterance. Propulsive and glittering in “Reflets dans l’eau” (from Images) he is inclined to replace the lower part of the dynamic spectrum (below mezzo-piano) with a more robust, daylit alternative. Directions (in “Cloches a travers les feuilles”) such as comme une buee irisee get shorter shrift than less subjective instructions such as tres egal or plus clair. In other words Michelangeli’s for the most part consummate pianism often creates an aristocratic froideur that can be less than inviting or evocative. Of course there some miraculous exceptions. “Poissons d’or” flashes with a perfection as beguiling as it is awe-inspiring and in a Prelude such as “Des pas sur la neige” there is an almost palpable sense of desolation, a freezing up of the heat of life. But the “Minstrels” have put on weight since we last saw them, their twangings and caperings dutifully rather than humorously caught. Michelangeli can also take a heavy hand to the habanera rhythm of “La puerta del Vino” while poor “Ondine” has a less than magical interaction with her watery kingdom. Again, you may marvel at Michelangeli’s celebrated performance of Ravel’s G major Concerto, his insinuating way with the Basque-inspired second subject, his chains of seamless trills in the cadenza or his capacity (despite much de-synchronization of the hands – an oddly old-fashioned gesture from so resolutely a ‘modern’ pianist) to make time stand still in the halcyon central Adagio, but by the time he came to record the Second Book of Preludes a certain stiffness and sobriety had set in. Not even Michelangeli’s most stalwart admirers could claim that his “Feux d’artifice” is fleet, let alone virtuosic, and his way with Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit (taken live from a 1959 Royal Festival Hall recital) is disappointingly literal. He can be metronomic rather than seductive in “Ondine”, and “Scarbo” is much less potent or menacing than from many other pianists. An extra bar appears at 4'07'' and the momentary effect of Gothic splendour at 6'24'' (those tolling bass bells) is mitigated by a curious nonchalance or disengagement elsewhere, together with some startling sprays of inaccuracy (chiefly in “Ondine”). Michelangeli’s Galuppi and Scarlatti have a cold, hypnotic precision (the finale of the Galuppi is of an uncanny pianistic finish) so that, overall, one is left to contemplate a master-pianist who, except on his great days – heard on Testament’s reissue of his 1957 London recital (12/96) or on EMI’s disc of Rachmaninov’s Fourth Concerto (9/88) – could remain teasingly ungiving and inscrutable rather than serenely enigmatic. The recordings, particularly DG’s Debussy, faithfully capture Michelangeli’s glacial and fine-spun sonority.'
Great Pianists of the 20th Century - Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli
Discover the world's largest classical music catalogue with Presto Music.
Gramophone Digital Club
- Digital Edition
- Digital Archive
- Reviews Database
- Full website access
From £8.75 / month
Subscribe
Gramophone Full Club
- Print Edition
- Digital Edition
- Digital Archive
- Reviews Database
- Full website access
From £11.00 / month
Subscribe
If you are a library, university or other organisation that would be interested in an institutional subscription to Gramophone please click here for further information.