Pianist
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli is an artist who left his mark on many facets of the classical music scene. As a person, he was a rather enigmatic character who concretized extensively but disliked the fame and adulation, and who was notorious for canceling concert engagements. He was a devoted and generous teacher who counts
Argerich and
Pollini among his most venerable students. Despite his broad repertoire, his recorded legacy is comparatively narrow. But the recordings we do have of this august performer are historically and musically noteworthy.
This recording, made during a live performance in Warsaw in 1955, features one of his most frequently recorded works: the Brahms Variations on a Theme of Paganini.
Michelangeli himself reordered the sequence of variations to what he considered to be a more logical progression. His interpretation of the work is legendary, as well it should be. His playing runs the gamut from delicate and subdued to vigorous and powerful. Unlike some pianists of his generation,
Michelangeli was more concerned with providing a gratifying musical product than in showcasing his own technique. This is quite evident in the Brahms, which is extremely lyrical without becoming over-indulgent. His performance of the Schumann Concerto is equally thoughtful, but the orchestra suffers slightly in the area of sound quality, coming across as too heavy on the treble end of the sound spectrum.