[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