Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Bologna, February 1941

On 5 February 1941, L'Avvenire d'Italia reported on a recital in the Liceo Musicale, Bologna:

'Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli undoubtedly possesses a privileged nature. In him, virtuosity blends with temperament and the refinement of an acute and remarkably responsive sensitivity. His technique is extremely solid, rational, logical, complete, and constructive; governed by an inner control that elevates it to artistic thought and will. His sound can be, depending on the case, very sweet and powerful, diluted and solid, transparent, crystalline, robust and metallic. 

'But Benedetti the artist is something more than Benedetti the virtuoso. He feels music in a very personal, intuitive, simple, and lucid way. A subtle engraver, revealer of every idea and of the great formal and constructive lines of the composition he performs, each of his interpretations seems to pass through the filter of a fervent intellect and a sensitivity that vibrates at even the slightest call.

In lui il virtuosismo si fonde con il temperamento e con la raffinatezza di una sensibilità acuta e prontissima. La sua tecnica è solidissima, razionale, logica, completa, costruttiva; regolata da un controllo interiore che la innalza a pensiero e volontà d'arte. Il suono sa essere, a seconda dei casi, dolcissimo e potente, diluito e solido, trasparente, cristallino, robusto e metallico. 

Cesellatore sottile, rivelatore di ogni idea e delle grandi linee formali e costruttive della composizione che esegue, ogni sua interpretazione sembra passare attraverso il filtro di un fervido intelletto e di una sensibilità che vibra ad ogni pur tenue richiamo. 

'Benedetti amazes in the tumultuous transcendence of his technique no less than he captivates in the sweetness of his most tender, romantic, intimate pages of fantasy and feeling (let's even say this word that makes us shudder so much today!).

Benedetti stupisce nelle tumultuanti trascendentalità della tecnica non meno che avvinca nella dolcezza delle pagine più tenere, romantiche, intime di fantasia e di sentimento (diciamola pure questa parola che oggi fa tanto rabbrividire!)

And whoever yesterday listened to Chopin's "Berceuse", Respighi's "Nocturne", Beethoven's Adagio, should question his memory and cannot help but admit that he felt a profound and moving emotion.

'The programme included a Fugue and an Allegro from the eighteenth-century Tomeoni (pieces reconstructed and elaborated by Benedetti himself with taste and stylistic propriety); Beethoven's Sonata Op. 2 No. 3; Chopin's Berceuse and Scherzo in B-flat minor; Martucci's Tarantella; Respighi's Nocturne; and Balakirev's Islamey.

'And the success, as expected, was resounding and enthusiastic: at the end of the concert, a veritable frenzy of cheers and ovations was quelled only by the kind concession of numerous unscheduled pieces. A huge crowd was present, the hall packed to the brim.'