Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (1920-1995)

Japan

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A Steinway was transported from Hamburg to Tokyo.  A recording exists of Beethoven's Sonata n. 4 in E flat major, Op. 7 with ABM playing in the NHK Hall , Tokyo on 20 October, 1973.  He also played Galuppi and Schumann's Carnaval.

 

23 October, 1973: Dai Ichi Hall, Kyoto - cancelled: Beethoven Op.26, Schubert ,Sonata in A minor D537, Brahms's 4 Ballades, and the Paganini Variations

[Daiichi = ?Rohm Theatre Kyoto, officially known as Kyoto Kaikan]

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25 Festival Hall, Osaka - cancelled

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29 October, 1973: Bunkakaikan, Tokyo, Japan
·    Schumann: Faschingsschwank aus Wien (Fantasiebilder), Op.26

·    Chopin: Piano Sonata No.2 in B-flat minor, Op.35
·    Ravel: Valses nobles et sentimentales

·    Ravel: Gaspard de la Nuit

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2 November, NHK Hall, Tokyo [programme as Kyoto on 23rd]

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(Personal note: I bought my copy of a 2CD set of the 29 October recital in Tower Records, Shibuya, Tokyo in April 2014)

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Antonio Armella records that a recital on 15 October in Tokyo's Bunka Kaikan was cancelled as was a programme on 25 October in Festival Hall, Osaka.

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Japanese Wikipedia has this (unsourced): 'His first visit to Japan in 1965 shocked (presumably in a pleasant way) the Japanese music world. He has visited Japan several times since, but only this first visit performed as scheduled. His subsequent cancellations have been met with turmoil. During his second visit in 1973, he changed concert dates and venues due to poor conditions, and some performances were canceled. He returned the following year in 1974 to make up for the previous year's performances. 

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CD liner notes (from the Japanese)

'In the autumn of 1973, Michelangeli was scheduled to perform six concerts, including those in Kyoto and Osaka, with three different programmes, starting with a recital at the Tokyo Bunka Kaikan on October 15th and ending with a recital at the NHK Hall on November 21st. The invitation was from the Japan Cultural Foundation, with support from the Asahi Shimbun Company, Asahi Broadcasting Corporation, FM Tokyo, and FM Osaka.

I had planned to broadcast the first of these concerts on the 19th as part of the "TDK Original Concert" programme, which was then produced by FM Tokyo.

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'Michelangeli was rumoured to have been a nervous and difficult-to-please pianist, and was known for his habit of canceling concerts at the last minute, a reputation known as the "cancellation scientist." (1965, Yomiuri Shimbun). When the company first invited him, his manager, the late Takayanagi Masuo, apparently used this to his advantage to promote him, selling tons of tickets while saying, "He won't play (even if he comes to Japan). He won't play!" (Takayanagi would continue to brag about this for years to come.)

 

As expected, the opening recital in 1973 was canceled at the last minute. This meant I had to abandon my plan to broadcast it before NHK (NHK supposedly aired the 20th October recital at NHK Hall on their FM program on the 26th).

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'In the end, we were able to record the recital hosted by the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre on October 29th. The programme was the same A-programme as the 20th. The broadcast date was delayed until December 21st, but it was only natural that everyone was grateful that it could be broadcast at all. However, on the day of the broadcast, the manager himself was obviously on edge, even to an outsider. He was standing in front of the stage, facing the one-point stereo set up.

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'Michelangeli's [the manager's?] face turned pale when he saw the hanging microphone, and he asked that it be removed, because he didn't know what the Master would say if he saw something like that (meaning that he might get angry and call off the concert, saying it was an eyesore). He also harshly warned me that during practice, the master would alternate between playing the piano on stage and one in the wings, and that none of the staff should ever come face to face with the master during those sessions.

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'Fortunately, Michelangeli didn't say anything when he saw the microphone set up at the front of the stage. He continued to play the two pianos, silently going back and forth frequently between the stage and wings. It didn't seem like he had any particular intention of using his favorite piano. He must have had his own unique way of thinking. We, the staff, were also enjoying the game of hide-and-seek, laughing like bad boys running away from the scary teacher.

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'It was some time after the rehearsal that I panicked for a moment. For some reason, he also looked taken aback. Naturally, my manager hadn't introduced me to the maestro, so I belatedly exchanged a few greetings. Michelangeli then asked, somewhat hesitantly, "Are you the radio man? I've already finished the rehearsal, but is the mic test enough?" It turned out he was fully aware of the situation and was being considerate in his own way. Naturally, he wasn't averse to being recorded or anything.

 

'Even so, Michelangeli's performance that day was captivating beyond words (...)

The atmosphere was so intense it was almost overwhelming, and I felt as if I had been given a glimpse of the demonic sensations hidden behind this maestro's intelligent control, which left me speechless.'

(Music critic, former producer at FM Tokyo)

 

On 9 December, 1973, 'Maestro Benedetti Michelangeli gave a recital at the Salle Pleyel in Paris, entitled "Mémoire du Martyre du Juif Inconnu."'​​

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1974

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April 5, 1974: Teatro Apollo, Lugano, Switzerland (Radio Broadcast | AAC256)
 

·    Haydn: Piano Concerto No.4 in G major, Hob.XVIII:4

·    Mozart: Piano Concerto No.15 in B-flat major, K.450

– Edmond de Stoutz / Züricher Kammerorchester

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Victoria Hall, Geneva, Switzerland

'In short, what we witnessed on Sunday evening was a piano recital with orchestra, as the audience had clearly come to hear Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli! The programme was perfectly suited to this, as it included no less than two concertos. In this regard, the soloist cannot be praised enough for choosing two little-known pieces: Joseph Haydn's beautiful Concerto in G major, whose concertante work for keyboard is hardly ever performed in public, and W.-A. Mozart's admirable K. V. 450 in B flat major, rarely performed in concert halls. ... The great Italian once again proved himself to be an outstanding performer. What refinement in his limpid playing, with its marvellous evenness of touch! But also what taste in the design of the lines, never gratuitously virtuosic, always expressive! And finally, what musicality in the shaping of a phrase, carried through to its full meaning with exemplary sobriety! Despite all the reserve with which the pianist surrounded himself, he was the object of endless ovations from an audience which, beyond its apparent coldness, was able to recognise his profound, authentic sensitivity. Mr Edmond de Stoutz, who, at the head of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, was a valuable collaborator for the soloist, gave a very fine performance of Mozart's famous Symphony in G minor at the beginning of the evening.'

Courrier de Genève, 9 April 1974

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Sunday, 19 May 1974, Municipal House – Smetana Hall, Prague

Ludwig van Beethoven: Egmont. Overture op. 84
Edvard Grieg: Concerto in A minor for piano and orchestra, op. 16
Bohuslav Martinů: Symphony No. 6 /Symphonic Fantasies/

Prague Symphony Orchestra – FOK; conductor Ladislav Slovák

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The incomparable Benedetti-Michelangeli. The famous Italian pianist performed in Prague again after several years. In Grieg's piano interpretation of the concerto with two masterful encores (Chopin's Mazurkas), he once again confirmed that he belongs to the greatest piano masters of our time. His musical expression ranges from dematerialized pianissimos to highly dramatic peaks, a fantastic perfection in which there is no trace of self-interest, created a completely new experience from this concert, as if cleansed of all usual mannerisms and yet deeply effective in its pure aesthetic beauty. I think it goes without saying that this unique art also had a unique response.

Jaromír KŘIŽ, Večerní Praha 20.5.74

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Tel Aviv (October 1974)

The Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition (Tel Aviv) came in­to being

in 1973, at the initiative of Jan Jacob Bistritzky, a close friend of Arthur Rubinstein, who was honored to give his name to the Competition. The Competition first took place in

1974 and is held every three years.  ABM served on the jury for Septmeber 1974 and 1977.  The winners were Emanuel Ax and Gerard Oppitz respectively.​

Bistritzky, who emigrated from Poland in 1971, had brought his professional expertise with him. In Warsaw, he had already directed the world-famous Frederyk Chopin Institute and the Chopin Piano Competition. 

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For 1974, members of the international jury included Arthur Rubinstein, Guido Agosti (Italy) and Jacques Fevrier (France), friend of Poulenc since childhood

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11 September 1974, Mann Auditorium, Tel Aviv, Israel: Beethoven's Sonata Op.7 in E flat 'sounded strange because of irrelevant musical gestures and mannerisms which seemed to place the artist's empathy with the music in question.  Neither did the intensely emotional second movement, the Adagio which crowns the work, amount to anything spectacular.  The third movement, which has the sudden switch to the dark minore seemed to inspire Michelangeli's imagination. He gave a stunning performance of the four Ballades of Brahms. Although it may not have been to everyone's taste, there can be no doubt that only Michelangeli can play them as he did.'  The Jerusalem Post (16.9.74)

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The Hungarian-langauge Új Kelet (20.9.74) wrote: One of his increasingly rare public appearances, which he did not cancel at the last minute, ... In addition to his excellent piano playing, our artist has become famous for this.  He demonstrated his sympathy for our people with the concert dedicated to the "memory of the unknown Jewish martyr" held in the Salle Pleyel in Paris in December of last year. (...) He played Brahms's four ballads Op. 10 so spiritually that we imagined ourselves at a séance conjuring up astral bodies. [S amint oly átszellemülten játszotta Brahms négy balladáját Op.10 hogy asztráltestek szellemidéző szeánszán képzeltük magunkat.] There is something in Michelangeli, an almost ghostly trait abstracted from the world and, at the same time, a tendency to break it down into atoms: Beethoven's E flat major, Op. He analysed the emotional Largo movement of his 7th sonata almost bar by bar, breaking it down into small parts, but in the closing rondo his eternal Italian singing inclination awoke in him and he led through and built up the folk-like themes with delightful ease. As an encore, he played Debussy's youthful ‚Hommage à Ravel“ with unsurpassed elegance, as a silent confession of an esoteric, carefully secluded from the outside world, with an overly refined nervous system, an excellent performer.

LÁSZLÓ PATAKI

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'As for the best piano playing of any kind heard in Israel during those eventful weeks, that was provided by the redoubtable Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli of Italy. Prior to joining Rubinstein and Eugene Istomin as a juror for the final stage, Michelangeli offered an “Hommage a Israel” recital in Mann Auditorium, with all the receipts donated to the funding of the Rubinstein competition. It is all too long since Michelangeli (the Italians call him “Benedetti”) has been heard in the United States—1968. But the interval has only added to the mastery that makes him, at 50, the greatest living craftsman at his specialty of casting spells and conjuring up pianistic miracles.

'When he had caressed the keys and solicited the strings’ cooperation in his concepts of Beethoven’s Opus 7 Sonata, the four Ballads (Opus 10) of Brahms, and the B-flat Minor Sonata of Chopin, he responded to a tumult of applause by spinning the measures of Debussy’s “Hommage a Rameau”—which few pianists risk in public—into a weblike filigree of sound both imaginative and impalpable. Challenged to explain why he has neglected America so long, Michelangeli responded that it was too far away, that he could play many more concerts in Europe during a week than in the States. If Italy wants Congress to help out in its financial dilemmas, it had better get “Benedetti” over here, subito

Irving Kolodin, Saturday Review (19 October 1974)

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Tuesday/Wednesday 15/ 16 October, 1974: Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Paris, France (WATCH HERE)
 

·    Beethoven: Piano Concerto No.5 in E-flat major, Op.73 (Emperor)

– Sergiu Celibidache /  Orchestre National de l'ORTF

– Also on an Electrecord LP​

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Antonio Armella gives details of a visit to Japan with 2 recitals.

24 October 1974, Dai Ichi Hall, Kyoto and 3 November, Festival Hall, Osaka.