Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli: London 1957

26 February 1957. 

In The Musical Times (April 1957), the gracious music critic and biographer of Schumann Joan Chissell wrote: 'When Michelangeli failed to turn up for his B.B.C. recital towards the end of February, there was wide-spread anxiety that his two appearances with the Philharmonia Orchestra under Sir Malcolm Sargent in the Festival Hall might also be cancelled. In the event, he called off his Schumann performance in the second of the two concerts, but made the effort to be there for Rachmaninov's Fourth Piano Concerto as promised on 26 February.

This is not the familiar, ardently romantic Rachmaninov; there is bravura in plenty in the work, but the composer seems more bent on exploring new paths than on making his familiar frontal attack on the emotions in it. Since box-office considerations so often come first nowadays, it was hats off to Mr. Michelangeli for eschewing easy popularity in C minor or D minor; nevertheless, the work did not really give him the chance to warm up and show the best of himself as a musician. Of his phenomenal virtuosity, however, there was never any doubt at all. He has tremendous strength in fingers and wrists (even if his fortissimo is a little steely in quality) and has both under superfine control. There was also very much to admire in his lyrical, soft tone and his phrasing in the slow movement. We now greatly look forward to assessing his qualities as an interpreter in a more general recital programme. Sir Malcolm Sargent and the Philharmonia Orchestra completed the programme with Walton's exuberant Johannesburg Festival Overture, Delius's Brigg Fair and Dvořák's 'New World' Symphony.'