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Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (1920-1995)
Martha Argerich
Financial Times 8 July 2011 Michelangeli confined himself to the G major concerto. How did he influence her during the 18 months she spent with him? “I don’t know. He was around most of the time but he wasn’t interested in us [pupils]. He only gave me four lessons. Later he told an interviewer: ‘I did a lot for that girl.’ When asked what he had done for me, he replied: ‘I taught her the music of silence’.” This is a joke, and we both laugh. She says Michelangeli was generou
Jan 151 min read
Beethoven's last, Michelangeli's first,
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli gave his first performance of Sonata No. 32 in C minor Op.111 on 29 January 1937 in Brescia. Of a later performance, 'we read in the Popolo di Brescia by critic Antonio Grassi on December 31, 1937: "Certainly Benedetti's interpretation is flawless, especially in the second part where the artist's power of penetration and translation must struggle against the sublime, but Beethoven would have caressed the head of this boy so bold and so talented,
Jan 51 min read


Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli drunk!
In a review of the book by Carlo Maria Dominici - a book which I have not seen- , Cesare Galla [source in Italian ] writes: 'Evidently, the Calabrian-American boy must have impressed the great international concert pianist... His memories are lucid and precise, painting an image of the Brescian pianist that doesn't always coincide with the mannered one, established through the testimonies of friends and relatives, colleagues, and fans. What's striking are his quirks of char
Jan 22 min read
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