Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli on Profil

Photograph of Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli at the keyboard taken in December of 1960 (photographer unknown, from Wikimedia Commons, public domain)

A little less than a month ago, Profil released another album in its series of archival recordings. This one is a ten-CD album of concert performances by the Italian pianist Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli in both solo recitals and concerto offerings. Michelangeli is one of those pianists better known for his reputation than for recorded evidence of that reputation. His Wikipedia page describes his concert repertoire as “seemingly strikingly small” but also cites his reputation as a perfectionist, suggesting that he preferred getting few things exactly right over playing many pieces “merely” well. As a result his studio recordings were relatively few, and many of the recordings of his concert performances were unauthorized.

How many of the recordings in this Profil collection were made without Michelangeli’s approval is unclear. Indeed, there are five tracks that contain no information regarding date or venue; and they definitely sound like pirated sources. Of course one of his great admirers was the Romanian conductor Sergiu Celibidache, who thoroughly abhorred any form of recording until the very end of his career. It is therefore no surprise that Celibidache does not appear on any of the concerto recordings. On the other hand, given the rather generous share of concerto performances, it was a surprise that only three of the conductors could be recognized as familiar: Rafael Kubelik, Hermann Scherchen, and Carlo Maria Giulini (who conducted three Mozart piano concertos on a single concert date in Rome: K. 415 in C major, K. 466 in D minor, and K. 488 in A major).

That same Wikipedia page also cites David Dubal’s book The Art of the Piano describing Michelangeli’s approach to Johannes Brahms Opus 35 set of variations on the final caprice in Niccolò Paganini’s set of 24 (composed for solo violin) as “demonic.” For the most part, those who enjoy this composition reacted with annoyance to the way in which Michelangeli omitted some of the variations and reordered others. (Yes, I am one of those annoyed parties!)

The fact is that, having given each of the ten CDs in this collection due attention, I cannot recall any of the selections that really made me sit up and take notice. Mind you, I was more than a bit touched to encounter the first of the pieces in Federico Mompou’s collection of fifteen Cançons i danses (songs and dances) compositions; but that was only slightly more that three minutes of music! Perhaps, ultimately, Michelangeli’s reputation had a greater impact than his actual achievements; and, given how few opportunities there were to listen to him in performance, we may just have to live with this unfortunate state of affairs.