"And then we remembered why we had come"

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  was clear that Mlchelangeli's sternly respectful view of the work was to exclude the least indulgence in mere pianism.  Pearly runs were pebbly, bright octave-skips indifferently harsh;  the Adagio, which is strewn with  p and  pp,  was pedagogically stiff and loud, its graceful arabesques frozen. 

'Then  came  the  great  Sonata  op.111, starting  with  the  risky  left-hand  drop  in octaves  divided  between  both  hands.  Mlchelangeli’s  reading  was  not  grave  - no portentous  depths  were  suggested  - but intensely  sober  (no  impassioned  heights, either). The  main  Allegro  was  a tight-lipped struggle;  the  variation-movement unfolded evenly,  without  sidelights,  and  when  the celestial  demi-semiquavers arrived  they came like hail.  There  was  some  remarkable control,  of  course,  of  a thoroughly saturnine  stamp. 

'The  other  Michelangeli  played  Chopin with  such  exquisite  and  searching imagination that  he  made  the  B minor  Mazurka from  op.  33,  the  first  Scherzo  and the Andante spianato  & Grande  Polonaise seem  rich  fare  for  a half-programme.  With the luminous  tones  he  drew  from  the Mazurka  and  the  delicate  shadows,  and the unforced  expressive  insights,  we remembered  why  we  had  come. 

The  B minor  Scherzo  had  an  original , fascinating  treatment:  its  stressful  opening material  was  suppressed  to  a fretful  mutter, but  a huge  expanse  of  melancholy opened  up  at every  ritenuto,  long  sighs gently  breathed. 

Michelangeli  played  the  Andante  spianato here  not  long  ago.  This  time  it  was  less silken  and  idyllic,  more  firmly  pointed, and  the  interlude-cadences  freighted  with thoughtful  feeling.  His  Grande  Polonaise admitted  three  or  four  times  to  being  a dance,  somewhere  long  ago,  but  mostly  it was  a dream  of  soft,  unhurried brilliance.'