Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (1920-1995)

I've added a few more details to the relevant webpage. In 1939 (the year of its foundation) Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli won first prize in the Concours de Genève/Geneva International Music Competition, where he was acclaimed as "a new Liszt" by pianist Alfred Cortot, a member of the judging panel, which was presided over by Ignacy Jan Paderewski.  (Martha Argerich would win in 1957.) The young man from Brescia was awarded 1000 Swiss francs, and an anonymous donor, bowled ov

13 May, 1990: Barbican Hall, London Beethoven: Piano Sonata No.11 in B-flat major, Op.22,  No.32 in C minor, Op.111 Chopin: Scherzo No.1 in B minor, Op.20, Mazurka in B minor, Op.33 No.4, Andante Spianato & Grande Polonaise Brillante, Op.22 ​ David Murray in the Financial Times  (14 March) talked of TWO Michelangelis. 'His Beethoven starter was the mild, piano-friendly little op. 22 Sonata in B-flat,not often heard in public, and scarcely ever like this.  Within a few bars it

Students recall Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli during the Chopin Competition Echo Krakowskie , 26 March 1955 Participants of the Chopin Competition in Kraków Now we begin our journey through the castle, the oldest in Wawel [Royal Castle], the Rotunda of Felix and Adauctus, through a labyrinth of halls and cloisters, all the way to the Throne Room. The guides, who explain everything in Russian, French, German, and English, can't keep up with the dozens of questions. From the ca

'Tall, slim, slightly stooped. He steps onto the stage with a slow, as if weary gait, mopping his damp forehead with his ever-present handkerchief. In 1953, he interrupted his concert work due to a serious illness; his current concerts in Warsaw and Kraków were his first after recovery, each one cost him a great deal of effort, each one was tiring... 'If Benedetti had lived in Paganini's time, he would have been accused of conspiring with Satan. Perhaps burned at the stake, e

A mesmerising moment from Brahms, Ballade No. 4 Op. 10 in B major, Andante con moto: Lugano 1981.  The pianist's hands - feather-like in delicacy - seem barely to press down the keys, while the vibrating inner melody is brought to the fore, Michelangeli all the while savouring the delicious, glinting clashes of harmony.

[Posted on the 5 January, the offical date of ABM's birth, though he once claimed it was in the first hour of the 6th!] I've recently seen that a new book on the pianist, I concerti di Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli by Antonio Armella was published in December 2025. It retails at around 33 Euros/ £28 on Amazon, where the blurb is: "This unique book reconstructs the concert life of one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century, the great Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, thro

In December 1968, New York Philharmonic, Carlo Maria Giulini: Mozart: Divertimento No. 11 in D major, K.251; Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K.466; Masonic Funeral Music, K.477 / 479a; Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K.550 Irving Kolodin wrote in  Saturday Review  (28 December 1968):  'A different direction began to assert itself early in the D-minor Concerto, performed with fastidious artistry and superior insight by the orchestra as well as the invincibly facile Michelangeli.

​In 1966, after more than fifteen years, Michelangeli embarks on his third North American tour. On 21 January, 1966, he returned to play in Carnegie Hall for the first time in 15 years. A few days earlier [6 January] his performance of Beethoven’s Emperor with William Steinberg and the New York Philharmonic drew rave reviews, and was captured on tape by a musical bootlegger. (John Bell Young) ​I've added this further report to the relevant web-page. In the  Saturday Review

Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli: "The piano is my enemy!" This extract is from an Italian newspaper in March 1987, the month when I heard ABM (for the only time). «Queste sono macchine infernali» Words and life in London of this most reclusive and secretive of musicians, who will give his final concert on Saturday. Michelangeli: "The piano is my enemy". He is staying in the English capital in a small apartment with special curtains. He is accompanied by his faithful secretar

A Polish "Kalendar" of 1956 reviewed the Chopin Competition of the previous year, from which this extract is taken. 'Each of these artists [the adjudicators in the competition] is a greatness in their own right, whether Kentner, Oborin, Levy, or others. But among them, the brilliant Italian pianist Benedetti Michelangeli, a true Michelangelo among pianists, shone with extraordinary brilliance.   Polish reviewers simply lacked words to describe the greatness of this artist. Ap

Olaszországban feltünt az "uj Liszt Ferenc" Pesti Hírlap 1 September 1940 'The "new Liszt Ferenc" appeared in Italy. At the beginning of the summer, a report appeared in the Pesti Hirlap about the musical events of the festive games in Florence. The writer of the report, Countess Ceruttiné Paulay Erzsi (gróf Ceruttiné Paulay Erzsi, a Hugrarian actress married to Italian ambassador Count Vittorio Cerrutti ) dedicated extremely warm lines to the praise of an 18-year-old Itali

This information was generously sent to me by Ди́на, Dina/ Diana (Russian Federation), who transcribed the extracts in English. After a long break, Michelangeli's first appearance was in Warsaw as juror during the 5th Chopin Festival (22 February-21 March, 1955). He resigned in protest, as Vladimir Ashkenazy, who he believed should have won, finished second to Polish pianist Adam Harasiewicz (aged 23) by a small margin. The competition ran 21 February to 20 March 1955, and